Which to use
“empêchaient” and “empêchait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,314
- “empêchaient” frequency rank
- #18,473
- “empêchait” frequency rank
- 60787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empêchaient | empêchait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de empêcher. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de empêcher. |
Same sound, different letters: empêchaient vs empêchait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. empêchaient runs 11 letters (VCCVCCVVVCC) against empêchait's 9 (VCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - empêchaient and empêchait
This is the hard kind. empêchaient and empêchait are pronounced identically (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empêchaient is recorded at frequency rank #42,314, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\. empêchait is at rank #18,473, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\.
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 60787, this pair ranks #95,761 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of empêchaient vs empêchait
Shared letters: acehimptê. Private to "empêchaient": n. Private to "empêchait": -.
"empêchaient" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVVCC · "empêchait" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "empêchaient" for "empêchait" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "empêchaient" or "empêchait" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "empêchaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empêchait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,761 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empêchaient" and "empêchait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empêchaient vs empêchement". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #95,761 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.