Which to use
“achetaient” and “achetais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,141
- “achetaient” frequency rank
- #39,624
- “achetais” frequency rank
- 81765
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | achetaient | achetais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe acheter. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe acheter. |
Same sound, different letters: achetaient vs achetais
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. achetaient runs 10 letters (VCCVCVVVCC) against achetais's 8 (VCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - achetaient / achetais
This is the hard kind. achetaient and achetais are pronounced identically (\a.ʃə.tɛ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
achetaient is recorded at frequency rank #42,141, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʃə.tɛ\. achetais is at rank #39,624, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ʃə.tɛ\.
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 81765, this pair ranks #18,072 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of achetaient vs achetais
Shared letters: acehit. Private to "achetaient": n. Private to "achetais": s.
"achetaient" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVVVCC · "achetais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- achetaient ← acchetaient · acehtaient · acheatient · achetaeint · achetaiennt · achetaientt · achetaietn · achetainet
- achetais ← acchetais · acehtais · acheatis · achetaiss · achetasi · achetias · achettais · achhetais
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "achetaient" for "achetais" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "achetaient" or "achetais" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "achetaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "achetais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,072 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "achetaient" and "achetais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "achetais vs achèterais". 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 #18,072 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.