rencontréevsrencontrerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rencontrée is a adjective, rencontrer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rencontrée” is an adjective and “rencontrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,463
“rencontrée” frequency rank
#1,374
“rencontrer” frequency rank
14837
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rencontrée rencontrer
Definition Féminin singulier de rencontré. Trouver en chemin une personne ou une chose.

Where the spellings diverge

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

10 ch
rencontrée
10 ch
rencontrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: rencontrée and rencontrer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rencontrée is recorded at frequency rank #13,463, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe\. rencontrer is at rank #1,374, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe\.

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 14837, this pair ranks #395,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rencontrée vs rencontrer

Shared letters: cenort. Private to "rencontrée": é. Private to "rencontrer": -.

"rencontrée" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVV  ·  "rencontrer" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rencontrererncontrer · recnontrer · renccontrer · rencnotrer · renconntrer · renconrter · renconterr · rencontrerr

Frequency comparison

rencontrée#13,463
rencontrer#1,374

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rencontrée" and "rencontrer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rencontrée" is an adjective and "rencontrer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rencontrée" or "rencontrer"?
"rencontrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,374 in our French list, against #13,463 for "rencontrée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rencontrée vs rencontrer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “rencontrée”; for a verb, it's “rencontrer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rencontrée” 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