Which to use
“attendais” and “attendons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,736
- “attendais” frequency rank
- #8,195
- “attendons” frequency rank
- 11931
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | attendais | attendons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de attendre. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de attendre. |
Where the eye mixes attendais and attendons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. attendais (VCCVCCVVC) and attendons (VCCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: attendais vs attendons
A purely visual mix-up. attendais (\a.tɑ̃.dɛ\) and attendons (\a.tɑ̃.dɔ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
attendais is recorded at frequency rank #3,736, classified as averb, pronounced \a.tɑ̃.dɛ\. attendons is at rank #8,195, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.tɑ̃.dɔ̃\.
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 11931, this pair ranks #407,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of attendais vs attendons
Shared letters: adenst. Private to "attendais": i. Private to "attendons": o.
"attendais" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "attendons" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "attendais" for "attendons" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "attendais" or "attendons" show up more?
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 "attendais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "attendons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #407,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "attendais" and "attendons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "attendais vs attendrir". 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 #407,213 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.