récrévsreçuWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#21,457
“récré” frequency rank
#813
“reçu” frequency rank
22270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récré reçu
Definition Période de la journée scolaire durant laquelle les enfants peuvent sortir et s’amuser. Qui est admis, établi, consacré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set récré and reçu apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
récré
4 ch
reçu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: récré is \ʁe.kʁe\ while reçu is \ʁə.sy\. 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 22270, 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\. reçu is at rank #813, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.sy\.

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 22270, this pair ranks #358,916 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of récré vs reçu

Shared letters: r. Private to "récré": . Private to "reçu": euç.

"récré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "reçu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequency comparison

récré#21,457
reçu#813

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récré" and "reçu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "récré" is a noun and "reçu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "récré" or "reçu"?
"reçu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #813 in our French list, against #21,457 for "récré". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering récré vs reçu

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “récré”; for an adjective, it's “reçu”.
  • 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