recoupevsrecrueTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,567
“recoupe” frequency rank
#12,039
“recrue” frequency rank
54606
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recoupe recrue
Definition Morceaux d’étoffe qui restent quand on taille des vêtements. Levée de soldat remplaçant ceux qui manquent.

Where the eye mixes recoupe and recrue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. recoupe runs 7 letters (CVCVVCV) against recrue's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
recoupe
6 ch
recrue

Look-alike desk: recoupe vs recrue

A purely visual mix-up. recoupe (\ʁə.kup\) and recrue (\ʁə.kʁy\) 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 54606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recoupe is recorded at frequency rank #42,567, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kup\. recrue is at rank #12,039, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kʁy\.

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 54606, this pair ranks #132,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recoupe vs recrue

Shared letters: ceru. Private to "recoupe": op. Private to "recrue": -.

"recoupe" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "recrue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • recoupeercoupe · rceoupe · reccoupe · recopue · recouep · recouppe · recuope · reocupe
  • recrueercrue · rcerue · reccrue · recreu · recrrue · recure · rercue · rrecrue

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "recoupe" and "recrue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁə.kup\ versus \ʁə.kʁy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "recoupe" or "recrue"?
"recrue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,039 in our French list, against #42,567 for "recoupe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "recoupe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "recrue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #132,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "recoupe" and "recrue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recoupe vs recouper". 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 #132,897 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