dépendantvsdépendanteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“dépendant” and “dépendante” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,555
“dépendant” frequency rank
#16,607
“dépendante” frequency rank
24162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dépendant dépendante
Definition Qui dépend de, qui est subordonné à. Féminin singulier de dépendant.

Where the eye mixes dépendant and dépendante

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
dépendant
10 ch
dépendante

Look-alike desk: dépendant vs dépendante

A purely visual mix-up. dépendant (\de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\) and dépendante (\de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃t\) 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 extra letter(s) - “dépendant” sits inside “dépendante”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépendant is recorded at frequency rank #7,555, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\. dépendante is at rank #16,607, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃t\.

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 24162, this pair ranks #348,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dépendant vs dépendante

Shared letters: adenpté. Private to "dépendant": -. Private to "dépendante": -.

"dépendant" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "dépendante" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dépendant" for "dépendante" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\ versus \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dépendant" vs "dépendante" - which ranks higher?
"dépendant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,555 in our French list, against #16,607 for "dépendante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dépendant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dépendante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #348,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dépendant" and "dépendante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépendante vs dépensant". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #348,217 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list