récompense vs récompensée, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“récompense” is a noun and “récompensée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,182
“récompense” frequency rank: #21,455
“récompensée” frequency rank: 25637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	récompense	récompensée
Definition	Bien qu’on fait à quelqu’un, en reconnaissance d’un service ou en faveur d’une bonne action.	Participe passé féminin singulier de récompenser.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set récompense and récompensée apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch

récompense

11 ch

récompensée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: récompense is \ʁe.kɔ̃.pɑ̃s\ while récompensée is \ʁe.kɔ̃.pɑ̃.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récompense is recorded at frequency rank #4,182, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.kɔ̃.pɑ̃s\. récompensée is at rank #21,455, 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 25637, this pair ranks #339,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of récompense vs récompensée

Shared letters: cemnoprsé. Private to "récompense": -. Private to "récompensée": -.

"récompense" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV · "récompensée" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVV

Frequency comparison

récompense#4,182

récompensée#21,455

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récompense" and "récompensée" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "récompense" is a noun and "récompensée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "récompense" or "récompensée"?

"récompense" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,182 in our French list, against #21,455 for "récompensée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering récompense vs récompensée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “récompense”; for a verb, it's “récompensée”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “récompense” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable