reconnuvsreconnueWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: reconnu is a verb, reconnue is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reconnu” is a verb and “reconnue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,100
“reconnu” frequency rank
#5,177
“reconnue” frequency rank
7277
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reconnu reconnue
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de reconnaître (ou reconnaitre). Féminin singulier de reconnu.

Same sound, different letters: reconnu vs reconnue

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. reconnu runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against reconnue's 8 (CVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
reconnu
8 ch
reconnue

Ear matches; page differs - reconnu and reconnue

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: reconnu and reconnue carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.kɔ.ny\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “reconnu” sits inside “reconnue”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reconnu is recorded at frequency rank #2,100, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.ny\. reconnue is at rank #5,177, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.ny\.

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 7277, this pair ranks #423,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reconnu vs reconnue

Shared letters: cenoru. Private to "reconnu": -. Private to "reconnue": -.

"reconnu" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "reconnue" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reconnu ← erconnu · rceonnu · recconnu · recnonu · reconu · reconun · reocnnu · rreconnu
  • reconnue ← erconnue · rceonnue · recconnue · recnonue · reconneu · reconue · reconune · reocnnue

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reconnu" and "reconnue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reconnu" is a verb and "reconnue" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reconnu" vs "reconnue" - which ranks higher?
"reconnu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,100 in our French list, against #5,177 for "reconnue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reconnu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reconnue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reconnu" and "reconnue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recoin vs reconnu". 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 #423,636 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