Which to use
“découvrent” and “découvrit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,986
- “découvrent” frequency rank
- #19,816
- “découvrit” frequency rank
- 29802
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | découvrent | découvrit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de découvrir. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de découvrir. |
Where the eye mixes découvrent and découvrit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. découvrent runs 10 letters (CVCVVCCVCC) against découvrit's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: découvrent vs découvrit
A purely visual mix-up. découvrent (\de.kuvʁ\) and découvrit (\de.ku.vʁi\) 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 29802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
découvrent is recorded at frequency rank #9,986, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kuvʁ\. découvrit is at rank #19,816, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ku.vʁi\.
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 29802, this pair ranks #314,388 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of découvrent vs découvrit
Shared letters: cdortuvé. Private to "découvrent": en. Private to "découvrit": i.
"découvrent" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC · "découvrit" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "découvrent" and "découvrit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "découvrent" or "découvrit" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "découvrent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "découvrit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,388 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "découvrent" and "découvrit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découvrais vs découvrit". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #314,388 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.