débordantvsdébordentWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: débordant is a adjective, débordent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“débordant” is an adjective and “débordent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,571
“débordant” frequency rank
#31,454
“débordent” frequency rank
62025
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débordant débordent
Definition Qui déborde, qui sort de ses limites habituelles ou obligées. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de déborder.

Letter map: débordant vs débordent

Shared letters muted; letters that set débordant and débordent apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. débordant and débordent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
débordant
9 ch
débordent

Role in the sentence - débordant and débordent

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: débordant is anadjective and débordentaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “débordant” becomes e in “débordent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débordant is recorded at frequency rank #30,571, classified as anadj. débordent is at rank #31,454, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.bɔʁd\.

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 62025, this pair ranks #89,243 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of débordant vs débordent

Shared letters: bdnorté. Private to "débordant": a. Private to "débordent": e.

"débordant" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "débordent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "débordant" and "débordent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débordant" is an adjective and "débordent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "débordant" or "débordent" show up more?
"débordant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,571 in our French list, against #31,454 for "débordent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "débordant" vs "débordent" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débordant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "débordent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,243 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débordant" and "débordent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débordent vs déforment". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #89,243 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