employaitvsemployantWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,639
“employait” frequency rank
#17,416
“employant” frequency rank
43055
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature employait employant
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de employer. Participe présent de employer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set employait and employant apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
employait
9 ch
employant

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. employait (\ɑ̃.plwa.jɛ\) and employant (\ɑ̃.plwa.jɑ̃\) 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 - i in “employait” becomes n in “employant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

employait is recorded at frequency rank #25,639, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.plwa.jɛ\. employant is at rank #17,416, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.plwa.jɑ̃\.

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 43055, this pair ranks #220,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of employait vs employant

Shared letters: aelmopty. Private to "employait": i. Private to "employant": n.

"employait" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVVVC  ·  "employant" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • employaitemlpoyait · emmployait · emplloyait · emploayit · employaitt · employati · employiat · employyait
  • employantemlpoyant · emmployant · emplloyant · emploaynt · employannt · employantt · employatn · employnat

Frequency comparison

employait#25,639
employant#17,416

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "employait" and "employant" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.plwa.jɛ\ versus \ɑ̃.plwa.jɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "employait" or "employant"?
"employant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,416 in our French list, against #25,639 for "employait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering employait vs employant

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “employait” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list