déroulaient vs déroulait

Which to use

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

#40,231
“déroulaient” frequency rank: #22,834
“déroulait” frequency rank: 63065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	déroulaient	déroulait
Definition	Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de dérouler.	Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de dérouler.

Same sound, different letters: déroulaient vs déroulait

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. déroulaient runs 11 letters (CVCVVCVVVCC) against déroulait's 9 (CVCVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch

déroulaient

9 ch

déroulait

Same sound, different spelling - déroulaient / déroulait

This is the hard kind. déroulaient and déroulait are pronounced identically (\de.ʁu.lɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déroulaient is recorded at frequency rank #40,231, classified as averb, pronounced \de.ʁu.lɛ\. déroulait is at rank #22,834, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.ʁu.lɛ\.

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 63065, this pair ranks #83,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déroulaient vs déroulait

Shared letters: adilortué. Private to "déroulaient": en. Private to "déroulait": -.

"déroulaient" · 11 letters · shape CVCVVCVVVCC · "déroulait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "déroulaient" for "déroulait" ever safe?

No. They are pronounced the same (\de.ʁu.lɛ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "déroulaient" or "déroulait"?

"déroulait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,834 in our French list, against #40,231 for "déroulaient". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

Full dictionary entry for "déroulaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "déroulait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #83,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"déroulaient" and "déroulait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déroula vs déroulait". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #83,872 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.