Found (verb, sense 1) — past tense and past participle of find: to discover, come across, or obtain something. She found her passport in the bottom of her bag.
Found (verb, sense 2) — to establish or set up an organisation, institution, or city, typically for the first time. The charity was founded in 1985 by a group of teachers.
What Does Found Mean?
Found is one of those rare English words that carries two completely separate meanings with no historical connection between them. As the past tense of find, it is one of the most common irregular verbs in English, used every day at every level. As a verb meaning to establish, it belongs to a slightly more formal register and is particularly common when discussing the history of organisations, cities, and institutions.
The two senses are unlikely to cause confusion in context — the grammar surrounding each use is quite different. However, learners often make errors with the past form of the founding sense, writing found when the correct past tense is founded. See the Common Mistakes section below for details.
Etymology
The past-tense found (from find) comes from Old English findan, related to Old Norse finna and German finden. All descend from Proto-Germanic *finþaną, meaning to come upon or perceive.
The verb found meaning to establish derives from a completely different root: Latin fundare ("to lay a foundation"), from fundus ("bottom, base"). It entered Middle English via Old French fonder in the 13th century. This Latin root also gives us foundation, fundamental, fund, and profound (literally "very deep").
Example Sentences
| Sentence | Level / Usage note |
|---|---|
| I found a ten-pound note on the pavement outside the shop. | A2 — simple past of find; everyday discovery |
| The police found the stolen car in a car park near the station. | B1 — simple past of find; formal/news context |
| The charity was founded in 1985 by a group of teachers who wanted to support disadvantaged children. | B1 — passive: found meaning to establish |
| Scientists found that participants who slept fewer than six hours performed significantly worse on memory tests. | B2 — found + that-clause; academic/research register |
| The defendant was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to three years in prison. | C1 — found + adjective complement; legal register |
Collocations
| Collocation | Example |
|---|---|
| found guilty | The jury found him guilty after three days of deliberations. |
| found innocent / not guilty | She was found not guilty due to lack of evidence. |
| found dead | The hiker was found dead on the mountain the following morning. |
| found missing | Three files were found missing from the database after the audit. |
| found wanting | The government's response was found wanting by the independent inquiry. |
| found a company | She left her job to found a tech company with two university friends. |
| found a charity | He used his inheritance to found a charity supporting refugee children. |
| found a school / university | The college was founded by a wealthy merchant in the 16th century. |
| found a movement | Rosa Parks helped to found a movement that changed the course of history. |
| find (and be found) | Hope is often found in the most unexpected places. |
Usage Notes
Two verbs, one spelling
- Found as past of find is irregular: find → found → found. It never takes -ed. Use it for all past and perfect forms: "I found", "she has found", "it was found".
- Found meaning to establish is regular: found → founded → founded. Always use -ed for the past: "They founded the university in 1867." Using "found" as the past of this verb is an error in formal writing.
- In informal speech the distinction sometimes blurs, but in academic, legal, or journalistic writing the -ed form is required for the establishing sense.
- Found + adjective complement is a formal pattern common in legal and evaluative language: found guilty, found innocent, found wanting, found fit for purpose.
Common Mistakes
Watch Out For
The organisation was found in 1990 by two doctors.
The organisation was founded in 1990 by two doctors. (regular past of the establishing verb)
I finded my wallet behind the sofa.
I found my wallet behind the sofa. (find is irregular; never add -ed)
The report found to be inaccurate.
The report was found to be inaccurate. (passive requires the auxiliary 'was/were')