Which to use
“défendaient” and “dépendaient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,813
- “défendaient” frequency rank
- #41,250
- “dépendaient” frequency rank
- 78063
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défendaient | dépendaient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de défendre. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de dépendre. |
Where the eye mixes défendaient and dépendaient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. défendaient and dépendaient follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses défendaient with dépendaient
A purely visual mix-up. défendaient (\de.fɑ̃.dɛ\) and dépendaient (\de.pɑ̃.dɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - f in “défendaient” becomes p in “dépendaient”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
défendaient is recorded at frequency rank #36,813, classified as averb, pronounced \de.fɑ̃.dɛ\. dépendaient is at rank #41,250, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.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 78063, this pair ranks #26,730 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of défendaient vs dépendaient
Shared letters: adeinté. Private to "défendaient": f. Private to "dépendaient": p.
"défendaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVVCC · "dépendaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "défendaient" for "dépendaient" ever safe?
Frequency check: "défendaient" vs "dépendaient" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "défendaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendaient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #26,730 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défendaient" and "dépendaient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépendaient vs descendaient". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #26,730 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.