Which to use
“recouper” and “recouvrer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,753
- “recouper” frequency rank
- #27,933
- “recouvrer” frequency rank
- 76686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recouper | recouvrer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Couper de nouveau. | Retrouver, rentrer en possession ; acquérir de nouveau une chose qu’on avait perdue. |
Where the eye mixes recouper and recouvrer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: recouper vs recouvrer
A purely visual mix-up. recouper (\ʁə.ku.pe\) and recouvrer (\ʁə.ku.vʁe\) 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 76686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recouper is recorded at frequency rank #48,753, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ku.pe\. recouvrer is at rank #27,933, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ku.vʁe\.
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 76686, this pair ranks #30,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recouper vs recouvrer
Shared letters: ceoru. Private to "recouper": p. Private to "recouvrer": v.
"recouper" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "recouvrer" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recouper" and "recouvrer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "recouper" or "recouvrer"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recouper" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recouvrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recouper" and "recouvrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recoucher 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 #30,430 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.