Which to use
“décidaient” and “décidait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,851
- “décidaient” frequency rank
- #23,522
- “décidait” frequency rank
- 71373
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décidaient | décidait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de décider. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de décider. |
Same sound, different letters: décidaient vs décidait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. décidaient runs 10 letters (CVCVCVVVCC) against décidait's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - décidaient and décidait
This is the hard kind. décidaient and décidait are pronounced identically (\de.si.dɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décidaient is recorded at frequency rank #47,851, classified as averb, pronounced \de.si.dɛ\. décidait is at rank #23,522, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.si.dɛ\.
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 71373, this pair ranks #47,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of décidaient vs décidait
Shared letters: acdité. Private to "décidaient": en. Private to "décidait": -.
"décidaient" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCC · "décidait" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "décidaient" and "décidait" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "décidaient" or "décidait"?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "décidaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décidait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décidaient" and "décidait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décidaient vs désiraient". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #47,782 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.