Which to use
“rencontrer” is a verb and “rencontres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,374
- “rencontrer” frequency rank
- #2,014
- “rencontres” frequency rank
- 3388
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rencontrer | rencontres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Trouver en chemin une personne ou une chose. | Pluriel de rencontre. |
Where the eye mixes rencontrer and rencontres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between rencontrer and rencontres
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rencontrer is \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe\ while rencontres is \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “rencontrer” becomes s in “rencontres”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rencontrer is recorded at frequency rank #1,374, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃.tʁe\. 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 3388, this pair ranks #434,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of rencontrer vs rencontres
Shared letters: cenort. Private to "rencontrer": -. Private to "rencontres": s.
"rencontrer" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC · "rencontres" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- rencontrer ← erncontrer · recnontrer · renccontrer · rencnotrer · renconntrer · renconrter · renconterr · rencontrerr
- rencontres ← erncontres · recnontres · renccontres · rencnotres · renconntres · renconrtes · renconters · rencontress
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "rencontrer" and "rencontres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "rencontrer" or "rencontres" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rencontrer" 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 #434,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rencontrer" and "rencontres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rencontrer vs rencontrerez". 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 #434,149 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.