Which to use
“attaquent” and “attaquèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,961
- “attaquent” frequency rank
- #44,312
- “attaquèrent” frequency rank
- 53273
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | attaquent | attaquèrent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe attaquer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple du verbe attaquer. |
Where the eye mixes attaquent and attaquèrent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. attaquent runs 9 letters (VCCVCVVCC) against attaquèrent's 11 (VCCVCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: attaquent vs attaquèrent
A purely visual mix-up. attaquent (\a.tak\) and attaquèrent (\a.ta.kɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
attaquent is recorded at frequency rank #8,961, classified as averb, pronounced \a.tak\. attaquèrent is at rank #44,312, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ta.kɛʁ\.
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 53273, this pair ranks #141,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of attaquent vs attaquèrent
Shared letters: aenqtu. Private to "attaquent": -. Private to "attaquèrent": rè.
"attaquent" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVCC · "attaquèrent" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- attaquent ← ataquent · atatquent · attaqeunt · attaqquent · attaquennt · attaquentt · attaquetn · attaqunet
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "attaquent" and "attaquèrent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "attaquent" or "attaquèrent"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "attaquent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "attaquèrent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #141,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "attaquent" and "attaquèrent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "attaquaient vs attaquèrent". 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 #141,897 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.