atteignantvsatteignitConfusable pair

Which to use

“atteignant” and “atteignit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,908
“atteignant” frequency rank
#28,840
“atteignit” frequency rank
41748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atteignant atteignit
Definition Participe présent de atteindre. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de atteindre.

Where the eye mixes atteignant and atteignit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. atteignant runs 10 letters (VCCVVCCVCC) against atteignit's 9 (VCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
atteignant
9 ch
atteignit

Look-alike desk: atteignant vs atteignit

A purely visual mix-up. atteignant (\a.tɛ.ɲɑ̃\) and atteignit (\a.tɛ.ɲi\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41748, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atteignant is recorded at frequency rank #12,908, classified as averb, pronounced \a.tɛ.ɲɑ̃\. atteignit is at rank #28,840, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.tɛ.ɲi\.

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 41748, this pair ranks #230,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of atteignant vs atteignit

Shared letters: aegint. Private to "atteignant": -. Private to "atteignit": -.

"atteignant" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCVCC  ·  "atteignit" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atteignantateignant · atetignant · atteginant · atteigannt · atteiggnant · atteignannt · atteignantt · atteignatn
  • atteignitateignit · atetignit · atteginit · atteiggnit · atteigint · atteignitt · atteignnit · atteignti

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "atteignant" for "atteignit" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\a.tɛ.ɲɑ̃\ versus \a.tɛ.ɲi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "atteignant" or "atteignit" show up more?
"atteignant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,908 in our French list, against #28,840 for "atteignit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "atteignant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atteignit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atteignant" and "atteignit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atteignaient vs atteignant". 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 #230,790 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list