recours vs recouvré, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,195
“recours” frequency rank: #46,402
“recouvré” frequency rank: 48597
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	recours	recouvré
Definition	Action par laquelle on recherche de l’assistance, du secours.	Participe passé masculin singulier de recouvrer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set recours and recouvré apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

recours

8 ch

recouvré

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recours is \ʁə.kuʁ\ while recouvré is \ʁə.ku.vʁe\. 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 48597, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recours is recorded at frequency rank #2,195, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.kuʁ\. recouvré is at rank #46,402, 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 48597, this pair ranks #177,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recours vs recouvré

Shared letters: ceoru. Private to "recours": s. Private to "recouvré": vé.

"recours" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC · "recouvré" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

recours ← ercours · rceours · reccours · recorus · recourrs · recourss · recousr · recuors

Frequency comparison

recours#2,195

recouvré#46,402

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recours" and "recouvré" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "recours" or "recouvré"?

"recours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,195 in our French list, against #46,402 for "recouvré". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering recours vs recouvré

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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