reculévsrefiléConfusable pair

Quick tell: reculé is a adjective, refilé is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“reculé” is an adjective and “refilé” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,720
“reculé” frequency rank
#35,239
“refilé” frequency rank
51959
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reculé refilé
Definition Qui est éloigné, lointain. Participe passé masculin singulier de refiler.

Letter map: reculé vs refilé

Shared letters muted; letters that set reculé and refilé apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
reculé
6 ch
refilé

Grammar separator: reculé vs refilé

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reculé is anadjective and refiléaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reculé is recorded at frequency rank #16,720, classified as anadj. refilé is at rank #35,239, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.fi.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 51959, this pair ranks #151,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reculé vs refilé

Shared letters: elré. Private to "reculé": cu. Private to "refilé": fi.

"reculé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "refilé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reculé" and "refilé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "reculé" is an adjective and "refilé" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "reculé" vs "refilé" - which ranks higher?
"reculé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,720 in our French list, against #35,239 for "refilé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "reculé" vs "refilé" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reculé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "refilé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reculé" and "refilé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recife vs refilé". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #151,164 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