découpéevsdécouvreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: découpée is a adjective, découvre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“découpée” is an adjective and “découvre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,326
“découpée” frequency rank
#2,773
“découvre” frequency rank
32099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature découpée découvre
Definition Féminin singulier de découpé. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de découvrir.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
découpée
8 ch
découvre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: découpée is \de.ku.pe\ while découvre is \de.kuvʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

découpée is recorded at frequency rank #29,326, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.ku.pe\. découvre is at rank #2,773, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kuvʁ\.

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 32099, this pair ranks #299,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of découpée vs découvre

Shared letters: cdeoué. Private to "découpée": p. Private to "découvre": rv.

"découpée" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVV  ·  "découvre" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV

Frequency comparison

découpée#29,326
découvre#2,773

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "découpée" and "découvre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "découpée" is an adjective and "découvre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "découpée" or "découvre"?
"découvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,773 in our French list, against #29,326 for "découpée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering découpée vs découvre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list