reculésvsroulésConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,432
“reculés” frequency rank
#30,786
“roulés” frequency rank
64218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature reculés roulés
Definition Masculin pluriel de reculé. Masculin pluriel de roulé.

Where the eye mixes reculés and roulés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. reculés runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against roulés's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
reculés
6 ch
roulés

Why the eye confuses reculés with roulés

A purely visual mix-up. reculés (\ʁə.ky.le\) and roulés (\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 64218, 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\. roulés is at rank #30,786, tagged as anadj, 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 64218, this pair ranks #78,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of reculés vs roulés

Shared letters: lrsué. Private to "reculés": ce. Private to "roulés": o.

"reculés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "roulés" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "reculés" and "roulés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.ky.le\ versus \ʁu.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "reculés" vs "roulés" - which ranks higher?
"roulés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,786 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "reculés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "roulés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #78,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "reculés" and "roulés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reculés vs rénales". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #78,103 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