écrasentvsécriventWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,790
“écrasent” frequency rank
#8,948
“écrivent” frequency rank
40738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écrasent écrivent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de écraser. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de écrire.

Where the eye mixes écrasent and écrivent

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

8 ch
écrasent
8 ch
écrivent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. écrasent (\e.kʁaz\) and écrivent (\e.kʁiv\) 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 40738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

écrasent is recorded at frequency rank #31,790, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kʁaz\. écrivent is at rank #8,948, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁiv\.

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 40738, this pair ranks #238,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of écrasent vs écrivent

Shared letters: cenrté. Private to "écrasent": as. Private to "écrivent": iv.

"écrasent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC  ·  "écrivent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "écrasent" and "écrivent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.kʁaz\ versus \e.kʁiv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "écrasent" or "écrivent"?
"écrivent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,948 in our French list, against #31,790 for "écrasent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list