Which to use
“recouper” and “recruter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,753
- “recouper” frequency rank
- #7,229
- “recruter” frequency rank
- 55982
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recouper | recruter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Couper de nouveau. | Lever des hommes pour le service militaire. |
Where the eye mixes recouper and recruter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. recouper (CVCVVCVC) and recruter (CVCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses recouper with recruter
A purely visual mix-up. recouper (\ʁə.ku.pe\) and recruter (\ʁə.kʁy.te\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55982, 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\. recruter is at rank #7,229, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kʁy.te\.
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 55982, this pair ranks #123,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of recouper vs recruter
Shared letters: ceru. Private to "recouper": op. Private to "recruter": t.
"recouper" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "recruter" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recouper" and "recruter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "recouper" or "recruter" show up more?
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 "recouper" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recruter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #123,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recouper" and "recruter" 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 #123,952 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.