Which to use
“reculée” and “roulée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,008
- “reculée” frequency rank
- #35,701
- “roulée” frequency rank
- 74709
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reculée | roulée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espace qui permet de se reculer. | Coups donnés à quelqu’un. |
Where the eye mixes reculée and roulée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. reculée runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against roulée's 6 (CVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between reculée and roulée
A purely visual mix-up. reculée (\ʁə.ky.le\) and roulée (\ʁu.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 74709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reculée is recorded at frequency rank #39,008, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.ky.le\. roulée is at rank #35,701, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁu.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 74709, this pair ranks #36,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of reculée vs roulée
Shared letters: elrué. Private to "reculée": c. Private to "roulée": o.
"reculée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "roulée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reculée" for "roulée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "reculée" or "roulée"?
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 "reculée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roulée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,288 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reculée" and "roulée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reculée vs refoulée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #36,288 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.