Which to use
“engendre” and “entendre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,761
- “engendre” frequency rank
- #872
- “entendre” frequency rank
- 12633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | engendre | entendre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de engendrer. | Percevoir un son. |
Where the eye mixes engendre and entendre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. engendre and entendre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses engendre with entendre
A purely visual mix-up. engendre (\ɑ̃.ʒɑ̃dʁ\) and entendre (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ\) 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 - g in “engendre” becomes t in “entendre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
engendre is recorded at frequency rank #11,761, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.ʒɑ̃dʁ\. entendre is at rank #872, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ\.
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 12633, this pair ranks #404,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of engendre vs entendre
Shared letters: denr. Private to "engendre": g. Private to "entendre": t.
"engendre" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV · "entendre" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "engendre" for "entendre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "engendre" or "entendre"?
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 "engendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "entendre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "engendre" and "entendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entendis vs entendre". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #404,434 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.