reconnaissentvsreconnaissezWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“reconnaissent” and “reconnaissez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,609
“reconnaissent” frequency rank
#21,439
“reconnaissez” frequency rank
30048
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reconnaissent reconnaissez
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de reconnaître (ou reconnaitre). Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de reconnaître (ou reconnaitre).

Where the eye mixes reconnaissent and reconnaissez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. reconnaissent runs 13 letters (CVCVCCVVCCVCC) against reconnaissez's 12 (CVCVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

13 ch
reconnaissent
12 ch
reconnaissez

Why the eye confuses reconnaissent with reconnaissez

A purely visual mix-up. reconnaissent (\ʁə.kɔ.nɛs\) and reconnaissez (\ʁə.kɔ.nɛ.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reconnaissent is recorded at frequency rank #8,609, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.nɛs\. reconnaissez is at rank #21,439, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.nɛ.se\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 30048, this pair ranks #312,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reconnaissent vs reconnaissez

Shared letters: aceinors. Private to "reconnaissent": t. Private to "reconnaissez": z.

"reconnaissent" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCCVCC  ·  "reconnaissez" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reconnaissent ← erconnaissent · rceonnaissent · recconnaissent · recnonaissent · reconaissent · reconanissent · reconnaisent · reconnaisesnt
  • reconnaissez ← erconnaissez · rceonnaissez · recconnaissez · recnonaissez · reconaissez · reconanissez · reconnaisesz · reconnaisez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reconnaissent" for "reconnaissez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.kɔ.nɛs\ versus \ʁə.kɔ.nɛ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "reconnaissent" or "reconnaissez" show up more?
"reconnaissent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,609 in our French list, against #21,439 for "reconnaissez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reconnaissent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reconnaissez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reconnaissent" and "reconnaissez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reconnaissaient vs reconnaissent". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #312,801 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list