Which to use
“couvre” and “couvrir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,746
- “couvre” frequency rank
- #4,063
- “couvrir” frequency rank
- 7809
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | couvre | couvrir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de couvrir. | Garnir, revêtir, pour protéger ou orner en appliquant, en déposant quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes couvre and couvrir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. couvre runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against couvrir's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses couvre with couvrir
A purely visual mix-up. couvre (\kuvʁ\) and couvrir (\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 7809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
couvre is recorded at frequency rank #3,746, classified as averb, pronounced \kuvʁ\. couvrir is at rank #4,063, tagged as averb, pronounced \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 7809, this pair ranks #422,053 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of couvre vs couvrir
Shared letters: coruv. Private to "couvre": e. Private to "couvrir": i.
"couvre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "couvrir" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "couvre" and "couvrir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "couvre" vs "couvrir" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "couvre" and "couvrir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "couvre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couvrir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,053 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "couvre" and "couvrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courra vs couvre". 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 #422,053 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.