Which to use
“rencontra” and “rencontrais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,653
- “rencontra” frequency rank
- #44,685
- “rencontrais” frequency rank
- 64338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rencontra | rencontrais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de rencontrer. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rencontrer. |
Where the eye mixes rencontra and rencontrais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. rencontra runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCCV) against rencontrais's 11 (CVCCVCCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: rencontra vs rencontrais
A purely visual mix-up. rencontra (\ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa\) and rencontrais (\ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “rencontra” sits inside “rencontrais”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rencontra is recorded at frequency rank #19,653, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa\. rencontrais is at rank #44,685, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ\.
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 64338, this pair ranks #77,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of rencontra vs rencontrais
Shared letters: acenort. Private to "rencontra": -. Private to "rencontrais": is.
"rencontra" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV · "rencontrais" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- rencontra ← erncontra · recnontra · renccontra · rencnotra · renconntra · renconrta · rencontar · rencontrra
- rencontrais ← erncontrais · recnontrais · renccontrais · rencnotrais · renconntrais · renconrtais · rencontaris · rencontraiss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rencontra" for "rencontrais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "rencontra" vs "rencontrais" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rencontra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rencontrais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #77,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rencontra" and "rencontrais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rencontraient vs rencontrais". 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 #77,538 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.