Which to use
“récré” and “reste” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,457
- “récré” frequency rank
- #205
- “reste” frequency rank
- 21662
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | récré | reste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Période de la journée scolaire durant laquelle les enfants peuvent sortir et s’amuser. | Ce qui demeure d’un tout, d’une plus grande quantité ; ce qui subsiste d’une chose passée, tant au sens physique qu’au sens moral. |
Where the eye mixes récré and reste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. récré and reste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses récré with reste
A purely visual mix-up. récré (\ʁe.kʁe\) and reste (\ʁɛst\) 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 21662, 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\. reste is at rank #205, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛst\.
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 21662, this pair ranks #362,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of récré vs reste
Shared letters: r. Private to "récré": cé. Private to "reste": est.
"récré" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "reste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- reste ← erste · resste · restte · retse · rreste · rsete
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "récré" and "reste" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "récré" or "reste" show up more?
What to do next
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 "reste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #362,060 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "récré" and "reste" 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 #362,060 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.