recommencervsrécompenserConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,432
“recommencer” frequency rank
#13,683
“récompenser” frequency rank
20115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recommencer récompenser
Definition Commencer de nouveau à faire ce qu’on a déjà fait, commencer deux fois quelque chose. Donner une récompense, faire du bien à quelqu’un en reconnaissance de quelque service, ou en faveur de quelque bonne action.

Where the eye mixes recommencer and récompenser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. recommencer and récompenser follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
recommencer
11 ch
récompenser

Look-alike desk: recommencer vs récompenser

A purely visual mix-up. recommencer (\ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se\) and récompenser (\ʁe.kɔ̃.pɑ̃.se\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recommencer is recorded at frequency rank #6,432, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se\. récompenser is at rank #13,683, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.kɔ̃.pɑ̃.se\.

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 20115, this pair ranks #369,889 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of recommencer vs récompenser

Shared letters: cemnor. Private to "recommencer": -. Private to "récompenser": psé.

"recommencer" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC  ·  "récompenser" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recommencer ← ercommencer · rceommencer · reccommencer · recmomencer · recomemncer · recomencer · recommecner · recommenccer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recommencer" and "récompenser" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.kɔ.mɑ̃.se\ versus \ʁe.kɔ̃.pɑ̃.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "recommencer" vs "récompenser" - which ranks higher?
"recommencer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,432 in our French list, against #13,683 for "récompenser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "recommencer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "récompenser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #369,889 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recommencer" and "récompenser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "récompensées vs récompenser". 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 #369,889 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