Which to use
“empêchant” and “empêchent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,371
- “empêchant” frequency rank
- #9,992
- “empêchent” frequency rank
- 23363
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | empêchant | empêchent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe présent de empêcher. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de empêcher. |
Where the eye mixes empêchant and empêchent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. empêchant and empêchent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between empêchant and empêchent
A purely visual mix-up. empêchant (\ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɑ̃\) 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 differ by a single letter - a in “empêchant” becomes e in “empêchent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
empêchant is recorded at frequency rank #13,371, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃɑ̃\. 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 23363, this pair ranks #352,930 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of empêchant vs empêchent
Shared letters: cehmnptê. Private to "empêchant": a. Private to "empêchent": -.
"empêchant" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC · "empêchent" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "empêchant" for "empêchent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "empêchant" vs "empêchent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "empêchant" 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 #352,930 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "empêchant" and "empêchent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empêchaient vs empêchant". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #352,930 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.