recubrevsrecupereTell them apart

Which to use

“recubre” and “recupere” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,780
“recubre” frequency rank
#16,195
“recupere” frequency rank
62975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recubre recupere
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recubrir. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de recuperar o de recuperarse.

Where the eye mixes recubre and recupere

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. recubre runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against recupere's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
recubre
8 ch
recupere

Why the eye confuses recubre with recupere

A purely visual mix-up. recubre ([reˈkuβ̞ɾe]) and recupere ([rekuˈpeɾe]) 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 62975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recubre is recorded at frequency rank #46,780, classified as averb, pronounced [reˈkuβ̞ɾe]. recupere is at rank #16,195, tagged as averb, pronounced [rekuˈpeɾe].

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 62975, this pair ranks #50,230 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of recubre vs recupere

Shared letters: ceru. Private to "recubre": b. Private to "recupere": p.

"recubre" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "recupere" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recubreercubre · rceubre · recbure · reccubre · recubbre · recuber · recubrre · recurbe
  • recupereercupere · rceupere · reccupere · recpuere · recuepre · recupeer · recuperre · recuppere

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "recubre" for "recupere" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([reˈkuβ̞ɾe] versus [rekuˈpeɾe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recubre" vs "recupere" - which ranks higher?
"recupere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,195 in our Spanish list, against #46,780 for "recubre". 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 "recubre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recupere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,230 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recubre" and "recupere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recubre vs recurren". 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 #50,230 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list