Which to use
“couchait” and “couchent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,231
- “couchait” frequency rank
- #27,758
- “couchent” frequency rank
- 65989
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | couchait | couchent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de coucher. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de coucher. |
Where the eye mixes couchait and couchent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. couchait (CVVCCVVC) and couchent (CVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between couchait and couchent
A purely visual mix-up. couchait (\ku.ʃɛ\) and couchent (\kuʃ\) 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 65989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
couchait is recorded at frequency rank #38,231, classified as averb, pronounced \ku.ʃɛ\. couchent is at rank #27,758, tagged as averb, pronounced \kuʃ\.
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 65989, this pair ranks #69,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of couchait vs couchent
Shared letters: chotu. Private to "couchait": ai. Private to "couchent": en.
"couchait" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "couchent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "couchait" for "couchent" ever safe?
Which is more common, "couchait" or "couchent"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "couchait" and "couchent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "couchait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "couchent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #69,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "couchait" and "couchent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "couchait vs courrait". 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 #69,841 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.