Which to use
“dépendait” and “devenait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,415
- “dépendait” frequency rank
- #9,468
- “devenait” frequency rank
- 26883
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépendait | devenait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de dépendre. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devenir. |
Where the eye mixes dépendait and devenait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dépendait runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVVC) against devenait's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dépendait vs devenait
A purely visual mix-up. dépendait (\de.pɑ̃.dɛ\) and devenait (\də.və.nɛ\) 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 26883, 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\. devenait is at rank #9,468, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.və.nɛ\.
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 26883, this pair ranks #332,262 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dépendait vs devenait
Shared letters: adeint. Private to "dépendait": pé. Private to "devenait": v.
"dépendait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "devenait" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- devenait ← ddevenait · deevnait · deveanit · devenaitt · devenati · deveniat · devennait · devneait
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dépendait" and "devenait" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dépendait" vs "devenait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "devenait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #332,262 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépendait" and "devenait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépendait vs dépensant". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #332,262 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.