reçuesvsreculésTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,458
“reçues” frequency rank
#33,432
“reculés” frequency rank
41890
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reçues reculés
Definition Féminin pluriel de reçu. Masculin pluriel de reculé.

Where the eye mixes reçues and reculés

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

6 ch
reçues
7 ch
reculés

Why the eye confuses reçues with reculés

A purely visual mix-up. reçues (\ʁə.sy\) and reculés (\ʁə.ky.le\) 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 41890, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reçues is recorded at frequency rank #8,458, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.sy\. reculés is at rank #33,432, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ky.le\.

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 41890, this pair ranks #229,777 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reçues vs reculés

Shared letters: ersu. Private to "reçues": ç. Private to "reculés": clé.

"reçues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "reculés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reçues" and "reculés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.sy\ versus \ʁə.ky.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "reçues" vs "reculés" - which ranks higher?
"reçues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,458 in our French list, against #33,432 for "reculés". 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 "reçues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reculés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #229,777 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reçues" and "reculés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reculés vs rénales". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #229,777 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