entendrevsentendsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#872
“entendre” frequency rank
#2,275
“entends” frequency rank
3147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entendre entends
Definition Percevoir un son. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de entendre.

Where the eye mixes entendre and entends

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
entendre
7 ch
entends

Why the eye confuses entendre with entends

A purely visual mix-up. entendre (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ\) and entends (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃\) 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 3147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entendre is recorded at frequency rank #872, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ\. entends is at rank #2,275, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃\.

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 3147, this pair ranks #434,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entendre vs entends

Shared letters: dent. Private to "entendre": r. Private to "entends": s.

"entendre" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "entends" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entendreenetndre · enntendre · entednre · entenddre · entender · entendrre · entenndre · entenrde
  • entendsenetnds · enntends · entedns · entendds · entendss · entennds · entensd · entneds

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "entendre" and "entends" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃dʁ\ versus \ɑ̃.tɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "entendre" or "entends"?
"entendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #872 in our French list, against #2,275 for "entends". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "entendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #434,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entendre" and "entends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entendis vs entends". 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 #434,686 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