reçuvsRTCWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#813
“reçu” frequency rank
#32,167
“RTC” frequency rank
32980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reçu RTC
Definition Qui est admis, établi, consacré. Réseau téléphonique analogique dans lequel le poste de l’abonné est relié à un central téléphonique par une paire de fils de cuivre.

Where the eye mixes reçu and RTC

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
reçu
3 ch
RTC

Look-alike desk: reçu vs RTC

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reçu is \ʁə.sy\ while RTC is \ɛʁ.te.se\. 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 32980, 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\. RTC is at rank #32,167, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛʁ.te.se\.

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 32980, this pair ranks #293,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reçu vs RTC

Shared letters: r. Private to "reçu": euç. Private to "RTC": ct.

"reçu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "RTC" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "reçu" for "RTC" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reçu" is an adjective and "RTC" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "reçu" or "RTC" show up more?
"reçu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #813 in our French list, against #32,167 for "RTC". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reçu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "RTC" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #293,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reçu" and "RTC" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rog vs RTC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #293,665 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