Which to use
“empêchaient” and “empêchant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,314
- “empêchaient” frequency rank
- #13,371
- “empêchant” frequency rank
- 55685
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empêchaient | empêchant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de empêcher. | Participe présent de empêcher. |
Where the eye mixes empêchaient and empêchant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. empêchaient runs 11 letters (VCCVCCVVVCC) against empêchant's 9 (VCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: empêchaient vs empêchant
A purely visual mix-up. empêchaient (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\) and empêchant (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55685, 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\. empêchant is at rank #13,371, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɑ̃\.
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 55685, this pair ranks #125,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of empêchaient vs empêchant
Shared letters: acehmnptê. Private to "empêchaient": i. Private to "empêchant": -.
"empêchaient" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVVCC · "empêchant" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "empêchaient" for "empêchant" ever safe?
Frequency check: "empêchaient" vs "empêchant" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "empêchaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empêchant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empêchaient" and "empêchant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empêchaient vs empêchement". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #125,875 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.