Which to use
“défendaient” and “devenaient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,813
- “défendaient” frequency rank
- #23,832
- “devenaient” frequency rank
- 60645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défendaient | devenaient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de défendre. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de devenir. |
Where the eye mixes défendaient and devenaient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. défendaient runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVVVCC) against devenaient's 10 (CVCVCVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between défendaient and devenaient
A purely visual mix-up. défendaient (\de.fɑ̃.dɛ\) and devenaient (\də.və.nɛ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60645, 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\. devenaient is at rank #23,832, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.və.nɛ\.
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 60645, this pair ranks #96,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of défendaient vs devenaient
Shared letters: adeint. Private to "défendaient": fé. Private to "devenaient": v.
"défendaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVVCC · "devenaient" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devenaient ← ddevenaient · deevnaient · deveanient · devenaeint · devenaiennt · devenaientt · devenaietn · devenainet
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "défendaient" and "devenaient" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "défendaient" vs "devenaient" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "défendaient" and "devenaient" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "défendaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devenaient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défendaient" and "devenaient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "défendaient vs descendaient". 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 #96,557 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.