Which to use
“recul” and “récup” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,368
- “recul” frequency rank
- #27,952
- “récup” frequency rank
- 32320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recul | récup |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de reculer. | Technique de restauration ou de création à partir d’objets anciens. |
Where the eye mixes recul and récup
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. recul and récup follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: recul vs récup
A purely visual mix-up. recul (\ʁə.kyl\) and récup (\ʁe.kyp\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recul is recorded at frequency rank #4,368, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kyl\. récup is at rank #27,952, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.kyp\.
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 32320, this pair ranks #298,038 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recul vs récup
Shared letters: cru. Private to "recul": el. Private to "récup": pé.
"recul" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "récup" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recul ← ercul · rceul · reccul · reclu · recull · reucl · rrecul
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recul" and "récup" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "recul" or "récup"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "recul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "récup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #298,038 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recul" and "récup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rébus vs récup". 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 #298,038 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.