Which to use
“découvrir” and “découvrit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,328
- “découvrir” frequency rank
- #19,816
- “découvrit” frequency rank
- 21144
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | découvrir | découvrit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dégarnir de ce qui couvrait. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de découvrir. |
Where the eye mixes découvrir and découvrit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between découvrir and découvrit
A purely visual mix-up. découvrir (\de.ku.vʁiʁ\) 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 a single letter - r in “découvrir” becomes t in “découvrit”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
découvrir is recorded at frequency rank #1,328, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ku.vʁiʁ\. 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 21144, this pair ranks #364,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of découvrir vs découvrit
Shared letters: cdioruvé. Private to "découvrir": -. Private to "découvrit": t.
"découvrir" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC · "découvrit" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "découvrir" and "découvrit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "découvrir" or "découvrit"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "découvrir" and "découvrit" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "découvrir" 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 #364,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "découvrir" and "découvrit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découvrais vs découvrit". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #364,629 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.