recuperavsrecuperanWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,207
“recupera” frequency rank
#25,424
“recuperan” frequency rank
35631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recupera recuperan
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recuperar o de recuperarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de recuperar o de recuperarse.

Where the eye mixes recupera and recuperan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
recupera
9 ch
recuperan

Look-alike desk: recupera vs recuperan

A purely visual mix-up. recupera ([rekuˈpeɾa]) and recuperan ([rekuˈpeɾãn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “recupera” sits inside “recuperan”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recupera is recorded at frequency rank #10,207, classified as averb, pronounced [rekuˈpeɾa]. recuperan is at rank #25,424, tagged as averb, pronounced [rekuˈpeɾãn].

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 35631, this pair ranks #185,004 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recupera vs recuperan

Shared letters: acepru. Private to "recupera": -. Private to "recuperan": n.

"recupera" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "recuperan" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recuperaercupera · rceupera · reccupera · recpuera · recuepra · recupear · recuppera · recuprea
  • recuperanercuperan · rceuperan · reccuperan · recpueran · recuepran · recupearn · recuperann · recuperna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recupera" and "recuperan" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([rekuˈpeɾa] versus [rekuˈpeɾãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recupera" vs "recuperan" - which ranks higher?
"recupera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,207 in our Spanish list, against #25,424 for "recuperan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recupera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recuperan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,004 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recupera" and "recuperan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recuperan vs recuperes". 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 #185,004 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