récrévsrectoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,457
“récré” frequency rank
#24,355
“recto” frequency rank
45812
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récré recto
Definition Période de la journée scolaire durant laquelle les enfants peuvent sortir et s’amuser. Première page d’un feuillet, par opposition au verso, qui est la seconde page, celle qui se trouve au revers du feuillet.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set récré and recto apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
récré
5 ch
recto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. récré (\ʁe.kʁe\) and recto (\ʁɛk.to\) 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 45812, 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\. recto is at rank #24,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛk.to\.

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 45812, this pair ranks #199,850 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of récré vs recto

Shared letters: cr. Private to "récré": é. Private to "recto": eot.

"récré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "recto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rectoercto · rceto · reccto · recot · rectto · retco · rrecto

Frequency comparison

récré#21,457
recto#24,355

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récré" and "recto" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.kʁe\ versus \ʁɛk.to\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "récré" or "recto"?
"récré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,457 in our French list, against #24,355 for "recto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering récré vs recto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “récré” 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