débordantevsdébordentTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#34,505
“débordante” frequency rank
#31,454
“débordent” frequency rank
65959
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débordante débordent
Definition Féminin singulier de débordant. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de déborder.

Where the eye mixes débordante and débordent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. débordante runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCCV) against débordent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
débordante
9 ch
débordent

Look-alike desk: débordante vs débordent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débordante is \de.bɔʁ.dɑ̃t\ while débordent is \de.bɔʁd\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débordante is recorded at frequency rank #34,505, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.bɔʁ.dɑ̃t\. 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 65959, this pair ranks #69,972 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of débordante vs débordent

Shared letters: bdenorté. Private to "débordante": a. Private to "débordent": -.

"débordante" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV  ·  "débordent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "débordante" and "débordent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débordante" is an adjective and "débordent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "débordante" or "débordent"?
"débordent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,454 in our French list, against #34,505 for "débordante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débordante" 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 #69,972 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débordante" and "débordent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débordent vs déforment". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #69,972 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