élevaitvsélèventWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,888
“élevait” frequency rank
#11,891
“élèvent” frequency rank
23779
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature élevait élèvent
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de élever. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de élever.

Where the eye mixes élevait and élèvent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
élevait
7 ch
élèvent

Visual trap between élevait and élèvent

A purely visual mix-up. élevait (\e.lə.vɛ\) and élèvent (\e.lɛv\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élevait is recorded at frequency rank #11,888, classified as averb, pronounced \e.lə.vɛ\. élèvent is at rank #11,891, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.lɛv\.

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 23779, this pair ranks #350,496 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of élevait vs élèvent

Shared letters: eltvé. Private to "élevait": ai. Private to "élèvent": .

"élevait" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC  ·  "élèvent" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "élevait" and "élèvent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.lə.vɛ\ versus \e.lɛv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "élevait" or "élèvent"?
"élevait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,888 in our French list, against #11,891 for "élèvent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "élevait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "élèvent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #350,496 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "élevait" and "élèvent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "élevait vs élèverait". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #350,496 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