Which to use
“aliment” is a noun and “alimente” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,727
- “aliment” frequency rank
- #14,193
- “alimente” frequency rank
- 27920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aliment | alimente |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui se mange et sert à entretenir la vie. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe alimenter. |
Where the eye mixes aliment and alimente
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. aliment runs 7 letters (VCVCVCC) against alimente's 8 (VCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses aliment with alimente
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aliment is \a.li.mɑ̃\ while alimente is \a.li.mɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “aliment” sits inside “alimente”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aliment is recorded at frequency rank #13,727, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.li.mɑ̃\. alimente is at rank #14,193, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.li.mɑ̃t\.
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 27920, this pair ranks #325,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aliment vs alimente
Shared letters: aeilmnt. Private to "aliment": -. Private to "alimente": -.
"aliment" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC · "alimente" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aliment" for "alimente" ever safe?
Which is more common, "aliment" or "alimente"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "aliment" and "alimente" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aliment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alimente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aliment" and "alimente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aliment vs animant". 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 #325,952 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.