Which to use
“dépassait” and “dépassent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,993
- “dépassait” frequency rank
- #9,476
- “dépassent” frequency rank
- 30469
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassait | dépassent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de dépasser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de dépasser. |
Where the eye mixes dépassait and dépassent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépassait (CVCVCCVVC) and dépassent (CVCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: dépassait vs dépassent
A purely visual mix-up. dépassait (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépassait is recorded at frequency rank #20,993, 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 30469, this pair ranks #310,113 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépassait vs dépassent
Shared letters: adpsté. Private to "dépassait": i. Private to "dépassent": en.
"dépassait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "dépassent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépassait" and "dépassent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dépassait" or "dépassent"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dépassait" and "dépassent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépassait" 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 #310,113 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassait" and "dépassent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépassait vs déposait". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #310,113 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.