Which to use
“récré” is a noun and “recrues” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,457
- “récré” frequency rank
- #13,460
- “recrues” frequency rank
- 34917
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | récré | recrues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Période de la journée scolaire durant laquelle les enfants peuvent sortir et s’amuser. | Féminin pluriel de recru. |
Where the eye mixes récré and recrues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. récré runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against recrues's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses récré with recrues
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: récré is \ʁe.kʁe\ while recrues is \ʁə.kʁy\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34917, 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\. recrues is at rank #13,460, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.kʁy\.
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 34917, this pair ranks #280,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of récré vs recrues
Shared letters: cr. Private to "récré": é. Private to "recrues": esu.
"récré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "recrues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recrues ← ercrues · rcerues · reccrues · recreus · recrrues · recruess · recruse · recures
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "récré" and "recrues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "récré" or "recrues"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "récré" and "recrues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "récré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recrues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "récré" and "recrues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recife vs récré". 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 #280,465 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.