Which to use
“dépassait” and “déposait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,993
- “dépassait” frequency rank
- #48,471
- “déposait” frequency rank
- 69464
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépassait | déposait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de dépasser. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de déposer. |
Where the eye mixes dépassait and déposait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépassait runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVVC) against déposait's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dépassait with déposait
A purely visual mix-up. dépassait (\de.pa.sɛ\) and déposait (\de.pɔ.zɛ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69464, 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\. déposait is at rank #48,471, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɔ.zɛ\.
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 69464, this pair ranks #55,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dépassait vs déposait
Shared letters: adipsté. Private to "dépassait": -. Private to "déposait": o.
"dépassait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "déposait" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dépassait" and "déposait" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "dépassait" or "déposait"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dépassait" and "déposait" 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 "déposait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépassait" and "déposait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déposait vs déposants". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #55,007 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.