entendentvsétendantConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,314
“entendent” frequency rank
#17,050
“étendant” frequency rank
24364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entendent étendant
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de entendre. Participe présent de étendre.

Where the eye mixes entendent and étendant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. entendent runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCC) against étendant's 8 (VCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
entendent
8 ch
étendant

Why the eye confuses entendent with étendant

A purely visual mix-up. entendent (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃d\) and étendant (\e.tɑ̃.dɑ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entendent is recorded at frequency rank #7,314, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃d\. étendant is at rank #17,050, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tɑ̃.dɑ̃\.

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 24364, this pair ranks #347,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entendent vs étendant

Shared letters: dent. Private to "entendent": -. Private to "étendant": .

"entendent" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC  ·  "étendant" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entendentenetndent · enntendent · entednent · entenddent · entendennt · entendentt · entendetn · entendnet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "entendent" and "étendant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃d\ versus \e.tɑ̃.dɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "entendent" or "étendant"?
"entendent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,314 in our French list, against #17,050 for "étendant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "entendent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étendant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #347,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entendent" and "étendant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étendant vs étendit". 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 #347,024 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list