recoursvsrecteursTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,195
“recours” frequency rank
#37,514
“recteurs” frequency rank
39709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recours recteurs
Definition Action par laquelle on recherche de l’assistance, du secours. Pluriel de recteur.

Where the eye mixes recours and recteurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
recours
8 ch
recteurs

Why the eye confuses recours with recteurs

A purely visual mix-up. recours (\ʁə.kuʁ\) and recteurs (\ʁɛk.tœʁ\) 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 39709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recours is recorded at frequency rank #2,195, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kuʁ\. recteurs is at rank #37,514, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛk.tœʁ\.

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 39709, this pair ranks #245,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recours vs recteurs

Shared letters: cersu. Private to "recours": o. Private to "recteurs": t.

"recours" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "recteurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recoursercours · rceours · reccours · recorus · recourrs · recourss · recousr · recuors
  • recteursercteurs · rceteurs · reccteurs · receturs · recterus · recteurrs · recteurss · recteusr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recours" for "recteurs" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.kuʁ\ versus \ʁɛk.tœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recours" or "recteurs"?
"recours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,195 in our French list, against #37,514 for "recteurs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recours" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #245,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recours" and "recteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recteurs vs routeurs". 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 #245,969 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