retrouvais

\ʁe.tʁu.vɛ\

/\ʁe.tʁu.vɛ\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“retrouvais” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #31,223. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#31,223
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de retrouver.

Corpus desk

Index FR-retrouvais · retrouvais · French

retrouvais · rank #31,223 · 14 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #31,223
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH retentissant

Nearest frequency peer: retentissant (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « retrouvais »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « retrouvais » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

retrouvais vs retrouvés
80% similar
retrouvais vs retrouvées
80% similar
retrouvais vs retrouvons
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for retrouvais
PropertyValue
Headwordretrouvais
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ʁe.tʁu.vɛ\
Letters10
Frequency rank#31,223
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « retrouvais »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.retrouvaisse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « retentissant » (#31,222), « revit » (#31,224), « restais » (#31,221). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « retrouvais » est au #31,223. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around retrouvais (IPA \ʁe.tʁu.vɛ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #31,223 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for retrouvais, with forms such as "ertrouvais", "rertouvais", and "retoruvais". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "retrouvés", "retrouvées", "retrouvons", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is retrouvais, spelled R-E-T-R-O-U-V-A-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de retrouver.
  2. 2
    Deuxième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de retrouver.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how retrouvais appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Et voilà que Julien Laporte ne m’avait seulement pas laissé entrer, ce jour-là, mon sac en bandoulière je me retrouvais sur la sellette, face à lui, visage fermé, qui occupait l’encadrement de la porte de toute sa carrure, jambes écartées comme un cow-boy sous son sweat-shirt Schott.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ertrouvais
  • rertouvais
  • retoruvais
  • retrouavis
  • retrouvaiss
  • retrouvasi
  • retrouvias
  • retrouvvais
  • retrovuais
  • retrrouvais
  • retruovais
  • rettrouvais
  • rretrouvais
  • rterouvais

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of retrouvais - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ertrouvais2rertouvais2retoruvais2retrouavis2retrouvaiss1retrouvasi2retrouvias2retrouvvais1
Edit distance from "retrouvais"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "retrouvais"?
"retrouvais" is spelled R-E-T-R-O-U-V-A-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁe.tʁu.vɛ\.
What does "retrouvais" mean?
As a verb, "retrouvais" means: Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de retrouver.
What words are commonly confused with "retrouvais"?
"retrouvais" is commonly confused with "retrouvés", "retrouvées", "retrouvons". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "retrouvais"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "retrouvais" is \ʁe.tʁu.vɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "retrouvais" come from?
"retrouvais" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "retrouvais", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

renouvelés#31,219péremption#31,201sacramento#31,249sidérurgie#31,256

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

ravitailler14 variantsstigmates14 variantspersister14 variantspercutant14 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list