découvrezvsdécouvritWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,997
“découvrez” frequency rank
#19,816
“découvrit” frequency rank
22813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature découvrez découvrit
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de découvrir. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de découvrir.

Where the eye mixes découvrez and découvrit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. découvrez and découvrit follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
découvrez
9 ch
découvrit

Why the eye confuses découvrez with découvrit

A purely visual mix-up. découvrez (\de.ku.vʁe\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

découvrez is recorded at frequency rank #2,997, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ku.vʁe\. 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 22813, this pair ranks #356,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of découvrez vs découvrit

Shared letters: cdoruvé. Private to "découvrez": ez. Private to "découvrit": it.

"découvrez" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC  ·  "découvrit" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "découvrez" for "découvrit" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.ku.vʁe\ versus \de.ku.vʁi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "découvrez" or "découvrit" show up more?
"découvrez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,997 in our French list, against #19,816 for "découvrit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "découvrez" 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 #356,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "découvrez" and "découvrit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découvrais vs découvrit". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #356,035 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