Which to use
“recover” is a verb and “recovery” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,401
- “recover” frequency rank
- #2,591
- “recovery” frequency rank
- 6992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recover | recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal). | The act or process of regaining or repossession of something lost. |
Where the eye mixes recover and recovery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. recover runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against recovery's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: recover vs recovery
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recover is /ɹɪˈkʌvə/ while recovery is /ɹɪˈkʌvəɹi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “recover” sits inside “recovery”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recover is recorded at frequency rank #4,401, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈkʌvə/. recovery is at rank #2,591, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈkʌvəɹi/.
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 6992, this pair ranks #509,065 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recover vs recovery
Shared letters: ceorv. Private to "recover": -. Private to "recovery": y.
"recover" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "recovery" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recover" and "recovery" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "recover" or "recovery" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recover" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recovery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #509,065 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recover" and "recovery" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recover vs remover". 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 #509,065 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.