Which to use
“devaient” and “devait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,249
- “devaient” frequency rank
- #871
- “devait” frequency rank
- 4120
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | devaient | devait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de devoir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de devoir. |
Same sound, different letters: devaient vs devait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - devaient and devait
This is the hard kind. devaient and devait are pronounced identically (\də.vɛ\) 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 4120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
devaient is recorded at frequency rank #3,249, classified as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\. devait is at rank #871, tagged as averb, pronounced \də.vɛ\.
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 4120, this pair ranks #432,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of devaient vs devait
Shared letters: adeitv. Private to "devaient": n. Private to "devait": -.
"devaient" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC · "devait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "devaient" and "devait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "devaient" or "devait"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "devaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "devaient" and "devait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décadent vs devaient". 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 #432,405 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.