défendravsdépendraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“défendra” and “dépendra” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,575
“défendra” frequency rank
#15,864
“dépendra” frequency rank
46439
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature défendra dépendra
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du futur de défendre. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de dépendre.

Where the eye mixes défendra and dépendra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. défendra and dépendra follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
défendra
8 ch
dépendra

Why the eye confuses défendra with dépendra

A purely visual mix-up. défendra (\de.fɑ̃.dʁa\) and dépendra (\de.pɑ̃.dʁa\) 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 “défendra” becomes p in “dépendra”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46439, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

défendra is recorded at frequency rank #30,575, classified as averb, pronounced \de.fɑ̃.dʁa\. dépendra is at rank #15,864, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dʁa\.

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 46439, this pair ranks #194,929 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of défendra vs dépendra

Shared letters: adenré. Private to "défendra": f. Private to "dépendra": p.

"défendra" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "dépendra" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "défendra" and "dépendra" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.fɑ̃.dʁa\ versus \de.pɑ̃.dʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "défendra" or "dépendra" show up more?
"dépendra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,864 in our French list, against #30,575 for "défendra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "défendra" and "dépendra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "défendra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dépendra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #194,929 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "défendra" and "dépendra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "défendra vs défendrai". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #194,929 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list