Which to use
“defender” and “défendit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,412
- “defender” frequency rank
- #42,841
- “défendit” frequency rank
- 87253
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defender | défendit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Défendre. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de défendre. |
Where the eye mixes defender and défendit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. defender and défendit follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses defender with défendit
A purely visual mix-up. defender (\de.fenˈdeɾ\) and défendit (\de.fɑ̃.di\) 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 87253, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defender is recorded at frequency rank #44,412, classified as averb, pronounced \de.fenˈdeɾ\. défendit is at rank #42,841, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.fɑ̃.di\.
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 87253, this pair ranks #8,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of defender vs défendit
Shared letters: defn. Private to "defender": r. Private to "défendit": ité.
"defender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "défendit" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- defender ← ddefender · deefnder · defedner · defendder · defenderr · defenedr · defennder · deffender
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "defender" for "défendit" ever safe?
Frequency check: "defender" vs "défendit" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "defender" and "défendit" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "defender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "défendit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defender" and "défendit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décéder vs defender". 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 #8,528 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.