atteintevsattentesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,514
“atteinte” frequency rank
#4,830
“attentes” frequency rank
8344
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atteinte attentes
Definition Action d’atteindre ou résultat de cette action. Pluriel de attente.

Where the eye mixes atteinte and attentes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. atteinte (VCCVVCCV) and attentes (VCCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
atteinte
8 ch
attentes

Why the eye confuses atteinte with attentes

A purely visual mix-up. atteinte (\a.tɛ̃t\) and attentes (\a.tɑ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atteinte is recorded at frequency rank #3,514, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.tɛ̃t\. attentes is at rank #4,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.tɑ̃t\.

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 8344, this pair ranks #420,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of atteinte vs attentes

Shared letters: aent. Private to "atteinte": i. Private to "attentes": s.

"atteinte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCCV  ·  "attentes" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atteinteateinte · atetinte · atteinet · atteinnte · atteintte · atteitne · attenite · attiente
  • attentesatentes · atetntes · attenets · attenntes · attentess · attentse · attenttes · attetnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "atteinte" and "attentes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.tɛ̃t\ versus \a.tɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "atteinte" or "attentes"?
"atteinte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,514 in our French list, against #4,830 for "attentes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "atteinte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "attentes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #420,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atteinte" and "attentes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ardentes vs attentes". 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 #420,333 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