écrivaisvsécrivonsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,078
“écrivais” frequency rank
#43,226
“écrivons” frequency rank
66304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écrivais écrivons
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de écrire. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de écrire.

Where the eye mixes écrivais and écrivons

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

8 ch
écrivais
8 ch
écrivons

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. écrivais (\e.kʁi.vɛ\) and écrivons (\e.kʁi.vɔ̃\) 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 66304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

écrivais is recorded at frequency rank #23,078, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kʁi.vɛ\. écrivons is at rank #43,226, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁi.vɔ̃\.

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 66304, this pair ranks #68,407 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of écrivais vs écrivons

Shared letters: cirsvé. Private to "écrivais": a. Private to "écrivons": no.

"écrivais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC  ·  "écrivons" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "écrivais" and "écrivons" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.kʁi.vɛ\ versus \e.kʁi.vɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "écrivais" or "écrivons"?
"écrivais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,078 in our French list, against #43,226 for "écrivons". 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