combattentvscombattezTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,383
“combattent” frequency rank
#47,798
“combattez” frequency rank
65181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature combattent combattez
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de combattre. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de combattre.

Where the eye mixes combattent and combattez

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

10 ch
combattent
9 ch
combattez

Look-alike desk: combattent vs combattez

A purely visual mix-up. combattent (\kɔ̃.bat\) and combattez (\kɔ̃.ba.te\) 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 65181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

combattent is recorded at frequency rank #17,383, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.bat\. combattez is at rank #47,798, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.ba.te\.

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 65181, this pair ranks #73,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of combattent vs combattez

Shared letters: abcemot. Private to "combattent": n. Private to "combattez": z.

"combattent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "combattez" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • combattent ← ccombattent · cmobattent · cobmattent · comabttent · combatent · combatetnt · combattennt · combattentt
  • combattez ← ccombattez · cmobattez · cobmattez · comabttez · combatetz · combatez · combattezz · combattze

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "combattent" for "combattez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.bat\ versus \kɔ̃.ba.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "combattent" or "combattez"?
"combattent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,383 in our French list, against #47,798 for "combattez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "combattent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "combattez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "combattent" and "combattez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "combattez vs combattue". 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 #73,483 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