Which to use
“désignait” and “dessinait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,849
- “désignait” frequency rank
- #38,243
- “dessinait” frequency rank
- 62092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désignait | dessinait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de désigner. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de dessiner. |
Where the eye mixes désignait and dessinait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. désignait (CVCVCCVVC) and dessinait (CVCCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses désignait with dessinait
A purely visual mix-up. désignait (\de.zi.ɲɛ\) and dessinait (\de.si.nɛ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désignait is recorded at frequency rank #23,849, classified as averb, pronounced \de.zi.ɲɛ\. dessinait is at rank #38,243, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.si.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 62092, this pair ranks #88,853 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of désignait vs dessinait
Shared letters: adinst. Private to "désignait": gé. Private to "dessinait": e.
"désignait" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "dessinait" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dessinait ← ddessinait · desinait · desisnait · dessianit · dessinaitt · dessinati · dessiniat · dessinnait
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "désignait" for "dessinait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "désignait" vs "dessinait" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "désignait" and "dessinait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "désignait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dessinait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,853 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désignait" and "dessinait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dessina vs dessinait". 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 #88,853 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.