Which to use
“dépendait” is a verb and “dépendant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,415
- “dépendait” frequency rank
- #7,555
- “dépendant” frequency rank
- 24970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépendait | dépendant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de dépendre. | Qui dépend de, qui est subordonné à. |
Where the eye mixes dépendait and dépendant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. dépendait (CVCVCCVVC) and dépendant (CVCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: dépendait vs dépendant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dépendait is \de.pɑ̃.dɛ\ while dépendant is \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “dépendait” becomes n in “dépendant”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépendait is recorded at frequency rank #17,415, classified as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɛ\. dépendant is at rank #7,555, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\.
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 24970, this pair ranks #343,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépendait vs dépendant
Shared letters: adenpté. Private to "dépendait": i. Private to "dépendant": -.
"dépendait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "dépendant" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dépendait" for "dépendant" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dépendait" vs "dépendant" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dépendait" and "dépendant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #343,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépendait" and "dépendant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépendait vs dépensant". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #343,524 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.