développementvsdéveloppentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: développement is a noun, développent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“développement” is a noun and “développent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#505
“développement” frequency rank
#8,843
“développent” frequency rank
9348
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature développement développent
Definition Action de développer, de se développer ou résultat de cette action, au propre et au figuré. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de développer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set développement and développent apart are highlighted. They share 11 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

13 ch
développement
11 ch
développent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: développement is \de.və.lɔp.mɑ̃\ while développent is \de.vlɔp\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

développement is recorded at frequency rank #505, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.və.lɔp.mɑ̃\. 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 9348, this pair ranks #416,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of développement vs développent

Shared letters: delnoptvé. Private to "développement": m. Private to "développent": -.

"développement" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVCVCC  ·  "développent" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVCC

Frequency comparison

développement#505
développent#8,843

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "développement" and "développent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "développement" is a noun and "développent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "développement" or "développent"?
"développement" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our French list, against #8,843 for "développent". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering développement vs développent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “développement”; for a verb, it's “développent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “développement” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list