Which to use
“défendait” is a verb and “dépendant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,265
- “défendait” frequency rank
- #7,555
- “dépendant” frequency rank
- 26820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | défendait | dépendant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de défendre. | Qui dépend de, qui est subordonné à. |
Where the eye mixes défendait and dépendant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: défendait vs dépendant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: défendait is \de.fɑ̃.dɛ\ while dépendant is \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26820, 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\. dépendant is at rank #7,555, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\.
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 26820, this pair ranks #332,667 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of défendait vs dépendant
Shared letters: adenté. Private to "défendait": fi. Private to "dépendant": p.
"défendait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "dépendant" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "défendait" and "dépendant" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "défendait" or "dépendant"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "défendait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #332,667 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "défendait" and "dépendant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "défendait vs défendrai". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #332,667 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.