découvresvsdécouvrirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“découvres” and “découvrir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,988
“découvres” frequency rank
#1,328
“découvrir” frequency rank
32316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature découvres découvrir
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de découvrir. Dégarnir de ce qui couvrait.

Where the eye mixes découvres and découvrir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
découvres
9 ch
découvrir

Why the eye confuses découvres with découvrir

A purely visual mix-up. découvres (\de.kuvʁ\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

découvres is recorded at frequency rank #30,988, classified as averb, pronounced \de.kuvʁ\. 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 32316, this pair ranks #298,057 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of découvres vs découvrir

Shared letters: cdoruvé. Private to "découvres": es. Private to "découvrir": i.

"découvres" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC  ·  "découvrir" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "découvres" and "découvrir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.kuvʁ\ versus \de.ku.vʁiʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "découvres" vs "découvrir" - which ranks higher?
"découvrir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,328 in our French list, against #30,988 for "découvres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "découvres" and "découvrir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "découvres" 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 #298,057 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "découvres" and "découvrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découvrais vs découvres". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #298,057 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list