diffusévsdiffusentTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,322
“diffusé” frequency rank
#21,286
“diffusent” frequency rank
25608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature diffusé diffusent
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier de diffuser. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de diffuser.

Where the eye mixes diffusé and diffusent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
diffusé
9 ch
diffusent

Look-alike desk: diffusé vs diffusent

A purely visual mix-up. diffusé (\di.fy.ze\) and diffusent (\di.fyz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

diffusé is recorded at frequency rank #4,322, classified as averb, pronounced \di.fy.ze\. diffusent is at rank #21,286, tagged as averb, pronounced \di.fyz\.

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 25608, this pair ranks #339,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of diffusé vs diffusent

Shared letters: dfisu. Private to "diffusé": é. Private to "diffusent": ent.

"diffusé" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "diffusent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • diffusentddiffusent · dfifusent · diffsuent · diffuesnt · diffusennt · diffusentt · diffusetn · diffusnet

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "diffusé" and "diffusent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\di.fy.ze\ versus \di.fyz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "diffusé" or "diffusent" show up more?
"diffusé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,322 in our French list, against #21,286 for "diffusent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "diffusé" and "diffusent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "diffusé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "diffusent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #339,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "diffusé" and "diffusent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diffusent vs diffusera". 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 #339,876 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list