Which to use
“craignait” and “craignent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,843
- “craignait” frequency rank
- #12,943
- “craignent” frequency rank
- 28786
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | craignait | craignent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de craindre. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de craindre. |
Where the eye mixes craignait and craignent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. craignait (CCVVCCVVC) and craignent (CCVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses craignait with craignent
A purely visual mix-up. craignait (\kʁɛ.ɲɛ\) and craignent (\kʁɛɲ\) 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 28786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
craignait is recorded at frequency rank #15,843, classified as averb, pronounced \kʁɛ.ɲɛ\. craignent is at rank #12,943, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁɛɲ\.
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 28786, this pair ranks #320,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of craignait vs craignent
Shared letters: acginrt. Private to "craignait": -. Private to "craignent": e.
"craignait" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCCVVC · "craignent" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "craignait" and "craignent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "craignait" or "craignent"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "craignait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "craignent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "craignait" and "craignent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "craignent vs craignons". 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 #320,725 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.