rencontravsrencontresWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: rencontra is a verb, rencontres is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rencontra” is a verb and “rencontres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,653
“rencontra” frequency rank
#2,014
“rencontres” frequency rank
21667
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rencontra rencontres
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de rencontrer. Pluriel de rencontre.

Where the eye mixes rencontra and rencontres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
rencontra
10 ch
rencontres

Look-alike desk: rencontra vs rencontres

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rencontra is \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁa\ while rencontres is \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21667, 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\. rencontres is at rank #2,014, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ\.

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 21667, this pair ranks #362,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rencontra vs rencontres

Shared letters: cenort. Private to "rencontra": a. Private to "rencontres": s.

"rencontra" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "rencontres" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rencontraerncontra · recnontra · renccontra · rencnotra · renconntra · renconrta · rencontar · rencontrra
  • rencontreserncontres · recnontres · renccontres · rencnotres · renconntres · renconrtes · renconters · rencontress

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rencontra" and "rencontres" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rencontra" is a verb and "rencontres" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rencontra" or "rencontres"?
"rencontres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,014 in our French list, against #19,653 for "rencontra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "rencontra" and "rencontres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rencontra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rencontres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rencontra" and "rencontres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rencontra 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 #362,036 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