récupèrentvsrécupérerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,729
“récupèrent” frequency rank
#2,335
“récupérer” frequency rank
31064
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récupèrent récupérer
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de récupérer. Recouvrer.

Where the eye mixes récupèrent and récupérer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

10 ch
récupèrent
9 ch
récupérer

Visual trap between récupèrent and récupérer

A purely visual mix-up. récupèrent (\ʁe.ky.pɛʁ\) and récupérer (\ʁe.ky.pe.ʁe\) 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 31064, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récupèrent is recorded at frequency rank #28,729, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ky.pɛʁ\. récupérer is at rank #2,335, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.ky.pe.ʁe\.

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 31064, this pair ranks #306,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of récupèrent vs récupérer

Shared letters: ceprué. Private to "récupèrent": ntè. Private to "récupérer": -.

"récupèrent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCC  ·  "récupérer" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "récupèrent" for "récupérer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.ky.pɛʁ\ versus \ʁe.ky.pe.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "récupèrent" vs "récupérer" - which ranks higher?
"récupérer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,335 in our French list, against #28,729 for "récupèrent". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "récupèrent" and "récupérer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "récupèrent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "récupérer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #306,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "récupèrent" and "récupérer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "récupèrent vs repèrent". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #306,212 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