récrévsreineWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,457
“récré” frequency rank
#1,635
“reine” frequency rank
23092
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récré reine
Definition Période de la journée scolaire durant laquelle les enfants peuvent sortir et s’amuser. Reine régnante, dirigeante d’un pays, appelé « royaume ». Son mari est souvent appelé « prince consort ».

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
récré
5 ch
reine

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. récré (\ʁe.kʁe\) and reine (\ʁɛn\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23092, 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\. reine is at rank #1,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛn\.

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 23092, this pair ranks #354,403 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of récré vs reine

Shared letters: r. Private to "récré": . Private to "reine": ein.

"récré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "reine" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • reineerine · reien · reinne · renie · riene · rreine

Frequency comparison

récré#21,457
reine#1,635

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récré" and "reine" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.kʁe\ versus \ʁɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "récré" or "reine"?
"reine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,635 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 reine

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