recoursvsrelousWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: recours is a noun, relous is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“recours” is a noun and “relous” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,195
“recours” frequency rank
#46,989
“relous” frequency rank
49184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recours relous
Definition Action par laquelle on recherche de l’assistance, du secours. Masculin pluriel de relou.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set recours and relous apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
recours
6 ch
relous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recours is \ʁə.kuʁ\ while relous is \ʁə.lu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49184, 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\. relous is at rank #46,989, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.lu\.

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 49184, this pair ranks #172,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recours vs relous

Shared letters: eorsu. Private to "recours": c. Private to "relous": l.

"recours" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "relous" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recoursercours · rceours · reccours · recorus · recourrs · recourss · recousr · recuors
  • relouserlous · rellous · relosu · relouss · reluos · reolus · rleous · rrelous

Frequency comparison

recours#2,195
relous#46,989

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recours" and "relous" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "recours" is a noun and "relous" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "recours" or "relous"?
"recours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,195 in our French list, against #46,989 for "relous". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering recours vs relous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “recours”; for an adjective, it's “relous”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “recours” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list