Which to use
“recherchais” is a verb and “recherchés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,676
- “recherchais” frequency rank
- #14,547
- “recherchés” frequency rank
- 59223
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recherchais | recherchés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rechercher. | Masculin pluriel de recherché. |
Where the eye mixes recherchais and recherchés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. recherchais runs 11 letters (CVCCVCCCVVC) against recherchés's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses recherchais with recherchés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recherchais is \ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ\ while recherchés is \ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recherchais is recorded at frequency rank #44,676, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃɛ\. recherchés is at rank #14,547, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe\.
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 59223, this pair ranks #104,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of recherchais vs recherchés
Shared letters: cehrs. Private to "recherchais": ai. Private to "recherchés": é.
"recherchais" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVVC · "recherchés" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recherchais ← ercherchais · rceherchais · reccherchais · recehrchais · rechecrhais · rechercahis · rechercchais · recherchaiss
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recherchais" and "recherchés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "recherchais" or "recherchés"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "recherchais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recherchés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #104,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recherchais" and "recherchés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recherchaient vs recherchais". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #104,367 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.