Which to use
“attendait” and “attendent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,041
- “attendait” frequency rank
- #3,182
- “attendent” frequency rank
- 7223
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | attendait | attendent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de attendre. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de attendre. |
Where the eye mixes attendait and attendent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. attendait (VCCVCCVVC) and attendent (VCCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between attendait and attendent
A purely visual mix-up. attendait (\a.tɑ̃.dɛ\) and attendent (\a.tɑ̃d\) 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 7223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
attendait is recorded at frequency rank #4,041, classified as averb, pronounced \a.tɑ̃.dɛ\. attendent is at rank #3,182, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.tɑ̃d\.
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 7223, this pair ranks #423,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of attendait vs attendent
Shared letters: adent. Private to "attendait": i. Private to "attendent": -.
"attendait" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "attendent" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "attendait" and "attendent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "attendait" vs "attendent" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "attendait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "attendent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #423,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "attendait" and "attendent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "attendait 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 #423,806 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.