Which to use
“découvrais” and “découvrir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,612
- “découvrais” frequency rank
- #1,328
- “découvrir” frequency rank
- 50940
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | découvrais | découvrir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de découvrir. | Dégarnir de ce qui couvrait. |
Where the eye mixes découvrais and découvrir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. découvrais runs 10 letters (CVCVVCCVVC) against découvrir's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between découvrais and découvrir
A purely visual mix-up. découvrais (\de.ku.vʁɛ\) and découvrir (\de.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 50940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
découvrais is recorded at frequency rank #49,612, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ku.vʁɛ\. découvrir is at rank #1,328, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.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 50940, this pair ranks #158,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of découvrais vs découvrir
Shared letters: cdioruvé. Private to "découvrais": as. Private to "découvrir": -.
"découvrais" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVVC · "découvrir" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "découvrais" for "découvrir" ever safe?
Frequency check: "découvrais" vs "découvrir" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "découvrais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "découvrir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "découvrais" and "découvrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découvrais vs découvrons". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #158,778 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.