Which to use
“dépassaient” and “dépassent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,763
- “dépassaient” frequency rank
- #9,476
- “dépassent” frequency rank
- 49239
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassaient | dépassent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de dépasser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. |
Where the eye mixes dépassaient and dépassent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. dépassaient runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVVVCC) against dépassent's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dépassaient vs dépassent
A purely visual mix-up. dépassaient (\de.pa.sɛ\) and dépassent (\de.pas\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49239, 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\. dépassent is at rank #9,476, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pas\.
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 49239, this pair ranks #172,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépassaient vs dépassent
Shared letters: adenpsté. Private to "dépassaient": i. Private to "dépassent": -.
"dépassaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVVVCC · "dépassent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dépassaient" and "dépassent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dépassaient" or "dépassent"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassaient" and "dépassent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassaient vs dépassait". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #172,260 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.