recueilvsréveilWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,275
“recueil” frequency rank
#5,184
“réveil” frequency rank
9459
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recueil réveil
Definition Action de recueillir ; résultat de cette action. Retour à l’état d’éveil. → voir heure du réveil

Where the eye mixes recueil and réveil

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. recueil runs 7 letters (CVCVVVC) against réveil's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
recueil
6 ch
réveil

Visual trap between recueil and réveil

A purely visual mix-up. recueil (\ʁə.kœj\) and réveil (\ʁe.vɛj\) 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 9459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recueil is recorded at frequency rank #4,275, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kœj\. réveil is at rank #5,184, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.vɛj\.

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 9459, this pair ranks #416,569 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recueil vs réveil

Shared letters: eilr. Private to "recueil": cu. Private to "réveil": vé.

"recueil" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "réveil" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recueil ← ercueil · rceueil · reccueil · receuil · recueill · recueli · recuiel · reuceil

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recueil" and "réveil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.kœj\ versus \ʁe.vɛj\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recueil" vs "réveil" - which ranks higher?
"recueil" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,275 in our French list, against #5,184 for "réveil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "recueil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réveil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #416,569 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recueil" and "réveil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réveil vs revoie". 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 #416,569 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