reçuvsrexWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#813
“reçu” frequency rank
#12,467
“rex” frequency rank
13280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reçu rex
Definition Qui est admis, établi, consacré. Race de chat, à queue longue ou moyenne et à poil court et ondulé car il n’est constitué que du sous-poil.

Where the eye mixes reçu and rex

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
reçu
3 ch
rex

Why the eye confuses reçu with rex

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reçu is \ʁə.sy\ while rex is \ʁɛks\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reçu is recorded at frequency rank #813, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.sy\. rex is at rank #12,467, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɛks\.

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 13280, this pair ranks #401,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of reçu vs rex

Shared letters: er. Private to "reçu": . Private to "rex": x.

"reçu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "rex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reçu" and "rex" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reçu" is an adjective and "rex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "reçu" or "rex"?
"reçu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #813 in our French list, against #12,467 for "rex". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "reçu" and "rex" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reçu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reçu" and "rex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Reis vs rex". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #401,670 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list