Which to use
“recto” and “rectum” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,355
- “recto” frequency rank
- #34,278
- “rectum” frequency rank
- 58633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recto | rectum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première page d’un feuillet, par opposition au verso, qui est la seconde page, celle qui se trouve au revers du feuillet. | Dernière partie du gros intestin, qui aboutit à l'anus. |
Where the eye mixes recto and rectum
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: recto vs rectum
A purely visual mix-up. recto (\ʁɛk.to\) and rectum (\ʁɛk.tɔm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recto is recorded at frequency rank #24,355, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛk.to\. rectum is at rank #34,278, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛk.tɔm\.
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 58633, this pair ranks #107,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recto vs rectum
Shared letters: cert. Private to "recto": o. Private to "rectum": mu.
"recto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "rectum" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "recto" for "rectum" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "recto" or "rectum" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "recto" and "rectum" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rectum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recto" and "rectum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rectum vs rictus". 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 #107,867 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.