retrouvervsretrouvezConfusable pair

Which to use

“retrouver” and “retrouvez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#829
“retrouver” frequency rank
#4,281
“retrouvez” frequency rank
5110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature retrouver retrouvez
Definition Revenir en contact avec quelqu'un ou quelque chose dont on avait été séparé, qu'on avait perdu ou qu'on avait oublié. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de retrouver.

Same sound, different letters: retrouver vs retrouvez

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. retrouver and retrouvez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
retrouver
9 ch
retrouvez

Same sound, different spelling - retrouver / retrouvez

This is the hard kind. retrouver and retrouvez are pronounced identically (\ʁə.tʁu.ve\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - r in “retrouver” becomes z in “retrouvez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

retrouver is recorded at frequency rank #829, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tʁu.ve\. retrouvez is at rank #4,281, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.tʁu.ve\.

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 5110, this pair ranks #429,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of retrouver vs retrouvez

Shared letters: eortuv. Private to "retrouver": -. Private to "retrouvez": z.

"retrouver" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "retrouvez" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • retrouver ← ertrouver · rertouver · retoruver · retrouevr · retrouverr · retrouvre · retrouvver · retrovuer
  • retrouvez ← ertrouvez · rertouvez · retoruvez · retrouevz · retrouvezz · retrouvvez · retrouvze · retrovuez

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "retrouver" and "retrouvez" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁə.tʁu.ve\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "retrouver" vs "retrouvez" - which ranks higher?
"retrouver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #829 in our French list, against #4,281 for "retrouvez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "retrouver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "retrouvez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "retrouver" and "retrouvez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retrouver vs retrouveras". 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 #429,876 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