découvrirentvsdécouvrirezConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#46,718
“découvrirent” frequency rank
#38,256
“découvrirez” frequency rank
84974
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature découvrirent découvrirez
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de découvrir. Deuxième personne du pluriel du futur de découvrir.

Where the eye mixes découvrirent and découvrirez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. découvrirent runs 12 letters (CVCVVCCVCVCC) against découvrirez's 11 (CVCVVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
découvrirent
11 ch
découvrirez

Visual trap between découvrirent and découvrirez

A purely visual mix-up. découvrirent (\de.ku.vʁiʁ\) and découvrirez (\de.ku.vʁi.ʁe\) 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 84974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

découvrirent is recorded at frequency rank #46,718, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ku.vʁiʁ\. découvrirez is at rank #38,256, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ku.vʁi.ʁe\.

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 84974, this pair ranks #12,088 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of découvrirent vs découvrirez

Shared letters: cdeioruvé. Private to "découvrirent": nt. Private to "découvrirez": z.

"découvrirent" · 12 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCVCC  ·  "découvrirez" · 11 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "découvrirent" for "découvrirez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.ku.vʁiʁ\ versus \de.ku.vʁi.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "découvrirent" or "découvrirez"?
"découvrirez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,256 in our French list, against #46,718 for "découvrirent". 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 "découvrirent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "découvrirez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,088 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "découvrirent" and "découvrirez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "découvrirent vs découvriront". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #12,088 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