choisissantvschoisissentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,834
“choisissant” frequency rank
#10,290
“choisissent” frequency rank
26124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature choisissant choisissent
Definition Participe présent de choisir. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de choisir.

Where the eye mixes choisissant and choisissent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. choisissant and choisissent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
choisissant
11 ch
choisissent

Look-alike desk: choisissant vs choisissent

A purely visual mix-up. choisissant (\ʃwa.zi.sɑ̃\) and choisissent (\ʃwa.zis\) 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 a single letter - a in “choisissant” becomes e in “choisissent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

choisissant is recorded at frequency rank #15,834, classified as averb, pronounced \ʃwa.zi.sɑ̃\. choisissent is at rank #10,290, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃwa.zis\.

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 26124, this pair ranks #336,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of choisissant vs choisissent

Shared letters: chinost. Private to "choisissant": a. Private to "choisissent": e.

"choisissant" · 11 letters · shape CCVVCVCCVCC  ·  "choisissent" · 11 letters · shape CCVVCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • choisissant ← cchoisissant · chhoisissant · chiosissant · choiisssant · choisisant · choisisasnt · choisissannt · choisissantt
  • choisissent ← cchoisissent · chhoisissent · chiosissent · choiisssent · choisisent · choisisesnt · choisissennt · choisissentt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "choisissant" and "choisissent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʃwa.zi.sɑ̃\ versus \ʃwa.zis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "choisissant" vs "choisissent" - which ranks higher?
"choisissent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,290 in our French list, against #15,834 for "choisissant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "choisissant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "choisissent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #336,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "choisissant" and "choisissent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "choisissait vs choisissant". 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 #336,976 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