Which to use
“dépassaient” is a verb and “dépassement” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,763
- “dépassaient” frequency rank
- #12,557
- “dépassement” frequency rank
- 52320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassaient | dépassement |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de dépasser. | Action de dépasser et spécialement d’outrepasser. |
Where the eye mixes dépassaient and dépassement
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. dépassaient (CVCVCCVVVCC) and dépassement (CVCVCCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses dépassaient with dépassement
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépassaient is \de.pa.sɛ\ while dépassement is \de.pas.mɑ̃\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépassaient is recorded at frequency rank #39,763, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pa.sɛ\. dépassement is at rank #12,557, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.pas.mɑ̃\.
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 52320, this pair ranks #148,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépassaient vs dépassement
Shared letters: adenpsté. Private to "dépassaient": i. Private to "dépassement": m.
"dépassaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVVCC · "dépassement" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépassaient" for "dépassement" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dépassaient" vs "dépassement" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dépassaient" and "dépassement" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassaient" and "dépassement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassaient vs dépassait". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #148,529 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.