accèdentvsaccidentWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#28,812
“accèdent” frequency rank
#1,407
“accident” frequency rank
30219
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature accèdent accident
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe accéder. Événement inattendu qui survient par hasard.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set accèdent and accident apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
accèdent
8 ch
accident

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: accèdent is \ak.sɛd\ while accident is \ak.si.dɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - è in “accèdent” becomes i in “accident”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

accèdent is recorded at frequency rank #28,812, classified as averb, pronounced \ak.sɛd\. accident is at rank #1,407, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ak.si.dɑ̃\.

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 30219, this pair ranks #311,783 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of accèdent vs accident

Shared letters: acdent. Private to "accèdent": è. Private to "accident": i.

"accèdent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "accident" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • accidentaccdient · acciddent · accidennt · accidentt · accidetn · accidnet · acciednt · acicdent

Frequency comparison

accèdent#28,812
accident#1,407

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "accèdent" and "accident" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "accèdent" is a verb and "accident" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "accèdent" or "accident"?
"accident" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,407 in our French list, against #28,812 for "accèdent". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering accèdent vs accident

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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