entenditvsentendreConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,644
“entendit” frequency rank
#872
“entendre” frequency rank
26516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entendit entendre
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de entendre. Percevoir un son.

Where the eye mixes entendit and entendre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. entendit (VCCVCCVC) and entendre (VCCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
entendit
8 ch
entendre

Visual trap between entendit and entendre

A purely visual mix-up. entendit (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃.di\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entendit is recorded at frequency rank #25,644, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃.di\. 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 26516, this pair ranks #334,518 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entendit vs entendre

Shared letters: dent. Private to "entendit": i. Private to "entendre": r.

"entendit" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "entendre" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entenditenetndit · enntendit · entednit · entenddit · entenditt · entendti · entenidt · entenndit
  • entendreenetndre · enntendre · entednre · entenddre · entender · entendrre · entenndre · entenrde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "entendit" for "entendre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃.di\ versus \ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "entendit" or "entendre"?
"entendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #872 in our French list, against #25,644 for "entendit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "entendit" 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 #334,518 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entendit" and "entendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entendis vs entendit". 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 #334,518 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