Which to use
“recracher” and “rétracter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,320
- “recracher” frequency rank
- #31,717
- “rétracter” frequency rank
- 81037
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recracher | rétracter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Rejeter de la bouche une chose que l'on y a introduit. | Déclarer qu’on n’a plus l’opinion que l’on avait avancée, se dédire d’une chose qu’on avait dite ou écrite, la désavouer. |
Where the eye mixes recracher and rétracter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. recracher and rétracter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: recracher vs rétracter
A purely visual mix-up. recracher (\ʁə.kʁa.ʃe\) and rétracter (\ʁe.tʁak.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recracher is recorded at frequency rank #49,320, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kʁa.ʃe\. rétracter is at rank #31,717, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.tʁak.te\.
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 81037, this pair ranks #19,601 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recracher vs rétracter
Shared letters: acer. Private to "recracher": h. Private to "rétracter": té.
"recracher" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "rétracter" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recracher ← ercracher · rceracher · recarcher · reccracher · recraccher · recracehr · recracherr · recrachher
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recracher" and "rétracter" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "recracher" vs "rétracter" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recracher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rétracter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,601 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recracher" and "rétracter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recoucher vs recracher". 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 #19,601 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.