rencontraisvsrencontresWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#44,685
“rencontrais” frequency rank
#2,014
“rencontres” frequency rank
46699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rencontrais rencontres
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rencontrer. Pluriel de rencontre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rencontrais and rencontres apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
rencontrais
10 ch
rencontres

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rencontrais is \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ\ 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 46699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rencontrais is recorded at frequency rank #44,685, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁɛ\. 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 46699, this pair ranks #192,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rencontrais vs rencontres

Shared letters: cenorst. Private to "rencontrais": ai. Private to "rencontres": -.

"rencontrais" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVVC  ·  "rencontres" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rencontraiserncontrais · recnontrais · renccontrais · rencnotrais · renconntrais · renconrtais · rencontaris · rencontraiss
  • rencontreserncontres · recnontres · renccontres · rencnotres · renconntres · renconrtes · renconters · rencontress

Frequency comparison

rencontrais#44,685
rencontres#2,014

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rencontrais" and "rencontres" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rencontrais" is a verb and "rencontres" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rencontrais" or "rencontres"?
"rencontres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,014 in our French list, against #44,685 for "rencontrais". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering rencontrais vs rencontres

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “rencontrais”; for a noun, it's “rencontres”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rencontrais” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list