dépendantesvsdépendantsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,188
“dépendantes” frequency rank
#19,524
“dépendants” frequency rank
42712
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dépendantes dépendants
Definition Féminin pluriel de dépendant. Masculin pluriel de dépendant.

Where the eye mixes dépendantes and dépendants

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. dépendantes runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVCCVC) against dépendants's 10 (CVCVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
dépendantes
10 ch
dépendants

Why the eye confuses dépendantes with dépendants

A purely visual mix-up. dépendantes (\de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃t\) and dépendants (\de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\) 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 42712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dépendantes is recorded at frequency rank #23,188, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃t\. dépendants is at rank #19,524, 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 42712, this pair ranks #223,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dépendantes vs dépendants

Shared letters: adenpsté. Private to "dépendantes": -. Private to "dépendants": -.

"dépendantes" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC  ·  "dépendants" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dépendantes" for "dépendants" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃t\ versus \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dépendantes" vs "dépendants" - which ranks higher?
"dépendants" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,524 in our French list, against #23,188 for "dépendantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "dépendantes" and "dépendants" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dépendantes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dépendants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dépendantes" and "dépendants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépendants vs dépensant". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #223,532 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