concernaientvsconcernentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,533
“concernaient” frequency rank
#6,277
“concernent” frequency rank
36810
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concernaient concernent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de concerner. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de concerner.

Where the eye mixes concernaient and concernent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

12 ch
concernaient
10 ch
concernent

Why the eye confuses concernaient with concernent

A purely visual mix-up. concernaient (\kɔ̃.sɛʁ.nɛ\) and concernent (\kɔ̃.sɛʁn\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36810, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concernaient is recorded at frequency rank #30,533, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.sɛʁ.nɛ\. concernent is at rank #6,277, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.sɛʁn\.

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 36810, this pair ranks #266,972 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of concernaient vs concernent

Shared letters: cenort. Private to "concernaient": ai. Private to "concernent": -.

"concernaient" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVVCC  ·  "concernent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • concernaientcconcernaient · cnocernaient · cocnernaient · conccernaient · concenraient · conceranient · concernaeint · concernaiennt
  • concernentcconcernent · cnocernent · cocnernent · conccernent · concenrent · concerennt · concernennt · concernentt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "concernaient" and "concernent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.sɛʁ.nɛ\ versus \kɔ̃.sɛʁn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "concernaient" or "concernent"?
"concernent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,277 in our French list, against #30,533 for "concernaient". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "concernaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "concernent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #266,972 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concernaient" and "concernent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concernaient vs contenaient". 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 #266,972 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