Which to use
“donnent” and “donnèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,035
- “donnent” frequency rank
- #29,728
- “donnèrent” frequency rank
- 31763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | donnent | donnèrent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de donner. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de donner. |
Where the eye mixes donnent and donnèrent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. donnent runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against donnèrent's 9 (CVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses donnent with donnèrent
A purely visual mix-up. donnent (\dɔn\) and donnèrent (\dɔ.nɛʁ\) 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 31763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
donnent is recorded at frequency rank #2,035, classified as averb, pronounced \dɔn\. donnèrent is at rank #29,728, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔ.nɛʁ\.
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 31763, this pair ranks #301,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of donnent vs donnèrent
Shared letters: denot. Private to "donnent": -. Private to "donnèrent": rè.
"donnent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "donnèrent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- donnent ← ddonnent · dnonent · donennt · donent · donnennt · donnentt · donnetn · donnnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "donnent" and "donnèrent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "donnent" or "donnèrent"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "donnent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "donnèrent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "donnent" and "donnèrent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "donnèrent vs donnerez". 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 #301,712 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.