Which to use
“dormait” and “dorment” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,855
- “dormait” frequency rank
- #12,551
- “dorment” frequency rank
- 28406
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dormait | dorment |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de dormir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de dormir. |
Where the eye mixes dormait and dorment
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dormait (CVCCVVC) and dorment (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses dormait with dorment
A purely visual mix-up. dormait (\dɔʁ.mɛ\) and dorment (\dɔʁm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dormait is recorded at frequency rank #15,855, classified as averb, pronounced \dɔʁ.mɛ\. dorment is at rank #12,551, tagged as averb, pronounced \dɔʁm\.
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 28406, this pair ranks #323,048 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dormait vs dorment
Shared letters: dmort. Private to "dormait": ai. Private to "dorment": en.
"dormait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "dorment" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dormait" and "dorment" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dormait" vs "dorment" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dormait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dorment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,048 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dormait" and "dorment" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déforment vs dorment". 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 #323,048 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.