Which to use
“empêchait” and “empêchent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,473
- “empêchait” frequency rank
- #9,992
- “empêchent” frequency rank
- 28465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empêchait | empêchent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de empêcher. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de empêcher. |
Where the eye mixes empêchait and empêchent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. empêchait (VCCVCCVVC) and empêchent (VCCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between empêchait and empêchent
A purely visual mix-up. empêchait (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\) and empêchent (\ɑ̃.pɛʃ\) 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 28465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empêchait is recorded at frequency rank #18,473, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɛ\. empêchent is at rank #9,992, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛʃ\.
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 28465, this pair ranks #322,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of empêchait vs empêchent
Shared letters: cehmptê. Private to "empêchait": ai. Private to "empêchent": n.
"empêchait" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "empêchent" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "empêchait" and "empêchent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "empêchait" or "empêchent"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "empêchait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "empêchent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #322,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empêchait" and "empêchent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empêchaient vs empêchait". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #322,616 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.