Which to use
“dépendait” and “dépensant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,415
- “dépendait” frequency rank
- #48,470
- “dépensant” frequency rank
- 65885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépendait | dépensant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de dépendre. | Participe présent de dépenser. |
Where the eye mixes dépendait and dépensant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. dépendait (CVCVCCVVC) and dépensant (CVCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between dépendait and dépensant
A purely visual mix-up. dépendait (\de.pɑ̃.dɛ\) and dépensant (\de.pɑ̃.sɑ̃\) 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 65885, 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\. dépensant is at rank #48,470, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.sɑ̃\.
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 65885, this pair ranks #70,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dépendait vs dépensant
Shared letters: adenpté. Private to "dépendait": i. Private to "dépensant": s.
"dépendait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "dépensant" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dépendait" and "dépensant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dépendait" vs "dépensant" - which ranks higher?
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 "dépendait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépensant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépendait" and "dépensant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépensant vs détenant". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #70,346 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.