consistentvsconsisterConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,446
“consistent” frequency rank
#41,190
“consister” frequency rank
59636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature consistent consister
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de consister. Être constitué par certains éléments ; comporter ; comprendre.

Where the eye mixes consistent and consister

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
consistent
9 ch
consister

Look-alike desk: consistent vs consister

A purely visual mix-up. consistent (\kɔ̃.sist\) and consister (\kɔ̃.sis.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 59636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

consistent is recorded at frequency rank #18,446, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.sist\. consister is at rank #41,190, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.sis.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 59636, this pair ranks #102,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of consistent vs consister

Shared letters: ceinost. Private to "consistent": -. Private to "consister": r.

"consistent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "consister" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • consistentcconsistent · cnosistent · conisstent · connsistent · consisetnt · consisstent · consistennt · consistentt
  • consistercconsister · cnosister · conisster · connsister · consisetr · consisster · consisterr · consistre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "consistent" for "consister" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃.sist\ versus \kɔ̃.sis.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "consistent" vs "consister" - which ranks higher?
"consistent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,446 in our French list, against #41,190 for "consister". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "consistent" and "consister" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "consistent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "consister" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "consistent" and "consister" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "consigner vs consister". 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 #102,044 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