Which to use
“reculer” is a verb and “reculés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,452
- “reculer” frequency rank
- #33,432
- “reculés” frequency rank
- 41884
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reculer | reculés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tirer ou pousser un objet en arrière. | Masculin pluriel de reculé. |
Same sound, different letters: reculer vs reculés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - reculer / reculés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: reculer and reculés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.ky.le\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reculer is recorded at frequency rank #8,452, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ky.le\. 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 41884, this pair ranks #229,814 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of reculer vs reculés
Shared letters: celru. Private to "reculer": -. Private to "reculés": sé.
"reculer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "reculés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- reculer ← erculer · rceuler · recculer · recluer · recuelr · reculerr · reculler · reculre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reculer" for "reculés" ever safe?
Which is more common, "reculer" or "reculés"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "reculer" / "reculés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "reculer" 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 #229,814 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reculer" and "reculés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reculés vs rénales". 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 #229,814 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.