reculésvsreçusConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,432
“reculés” frequency rank
#7,368
“reçus” frequency rank
40800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reculés reçus
Definition Masculin pluriel de reculé. Masculin pluriel de reçu.

Where the eye mixes reculés and reçus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. reculés runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against reçus's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
reculés
5 ch
reçus

Why the eye confuses reculés with reçus

A purely visual mix-up. reculés (\ʁə.ky.le\) and reçus (\ʁə.sy\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

reculés is recorded at frequency rank #33,432, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ky.le\. reçus is at rank #7,368, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.sy\.

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 40800, this pair ranks #237,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of reculés vs reçus

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

"reculés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "reçus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "reculés" and "reçus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.ky.le\ versus \ʁə.sy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "reculés" vs "reçus" - which ranks higher?
"reçus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,368 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

Eye-level mix-up between "reculés" and "reçus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reculés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reçus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #237,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reculés" and "reçus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reculés vs rénales". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #237,815 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