Which to use
“recouvrait” and “recouvrir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,967
- “recouvrait” frequency rank
- #18,851
- “recouvrir” frequency rank
- 58818
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recouvrait | recouvrir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de recouvrir. | Couvrir de nouveau. |
Where the eye mixes recouvrait and recouvrir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. recouvrait runs 10 letters (CVCVVCCVVC) against recouvrir's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses recouvrait with recouvrir
A purely visual mix-up. recouvrait (\ʁə.ku.vʁɛ\) and recouvrir (\ʁə.ku.vʁiʁ\) 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 58818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recouvrait is recorded at frequency rank #39,967, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ku.vʁɛ\. recouvrir is at rank #18,851, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ku.vʁiʁ\.
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 58818, this pair ranks #106,731 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recouvrait vs recouvrir
Shared letters: ceioruv. Private to "recouvrait": at. Private to "recouvrir": -.
"recouvrait" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVVC · "recouvrir" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recouvrait ← ercouvrait · rceouvrait · reccouvrait · recourvait · recouvarit · recouvraitt · recouvrati · recouvriat
- recouvrir ← ercouvrir · rceouvrir · reccouvrir · recourvir · recouvirr · recouvrirr · recouvrri · recouvrrir
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "recouvrait" and "recouvrir" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "recouvrait" or "recouvrir"?
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 "recouvrait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recouvrir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #106,731 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recouvrait" and "recouvrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recevrait vs recouvrait". 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 #106,731 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.