Which to use
“défendait” and “demandait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,265
- “défendait” frequency rank
- #5,857
- “demandait” frequency rank
- 25122
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défendait | demandait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de défendre. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de demander. |
Where the eye mixes défendait and demandait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. défendait and demandait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between défendait and demandait
A purely visual mix-up. défendait (\de.fɑ̃.dɛ\) and demandait (\də.mɑ̃.dɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
défendait is recorded at frequency rank #19,265, classified as averb, pronounced \de.fɑ̃.dɛ\. demandait is at rank #5,857, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.mɑ̃.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 25122, this pair ranks #342,685 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of défendait vs demandait
Shared letters: adeint. Private to "défendait": fé. Private to "demandait": m.
"défendait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "demandait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- demandait ← ddemandait · deamndait · demadnait · demanadit · demandaitt · demandati · demanddait · demandiat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "défendait" for "demandait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "défendait" vs "demandait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "défendait" and "demandait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "défendait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demandait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,685 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défendait" and "demandait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "défendait vs défendrai". 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 #342,685 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.