développe vs développent, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#4,071
“développe” frequency rank: #8,843
“développent” frequency rank: 12914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	développe	développent
Definition	Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de développer.	Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de développer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set développe and développent apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

développe

11 ch

développent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. développe and développent are pronounced identically (\de.vlɔp\) 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 extra letter(s) - “développe” sits inside “développent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

développe is recorded at frequency rank #4,071, classified as averb, pronounced \de.vlɔp\. développent is at rank #8,843, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.vlɔp\.

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 12914, this pair ranks #403,222 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of développe vs développent

Shared letters: delopvé. Private to "développe": -. Private to "développent": nt.

"développe" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV · "développent" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVCC

Frequency comparison

développe#4,071

développent#8,843

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "développe" and "développent" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\de.vlɔp\), 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, "développe" or "développent"?

"développe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,071 in our French list, against #8,843 for "développent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering développe vs développent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “développe” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable