récrévsrecréerConfusable pair

Quick tell: récré is a noun, recréer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“récré” is a noun and “recréer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,457
“récré” frequency rank
#15,737
“recréer” frequency rank
37194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récré recréer
Definition Période de la journée scolaire durant laquelle les enfants peuvent sortir et s’amuser. Donner une nouvelle existence, remettre sur pied.

Where the eye mixes récré and recréer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. récré runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against recréer's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
récré
7 ch
recréer

Visual trap between récré and recréer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: récré is \ʁe.kʁe\ while recréer is \ʁə.kʁe.e\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récré is recorded at frequency rank #21,457, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.kʁe\. recréer is at rank #15,737, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kʁe.e\.

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 37194, this pair ranks #264,214 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of récré vs recréer

Shared letters: cré. Private to "récré": -. Private to "recréer": e.

"récré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "recréer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récré" and "recréer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "récré" is a noun and "recréer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "récré" vs "recréer" - which ranks higher?
"recréer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,737 in our French list, against #21,457 for "récré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "récré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recréer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #264,214 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "récré" and "recréer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recife vs récré". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #264,214 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