Which to use
“épousent” and “éprouvent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,968
- “épousent” frequency rank
- #24,454
- “éprouvent” frequency rank
- 70422
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | épousent | éprouvent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de épouser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de éprouver. |
Where the eye mixes épousent and éprouvent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. épousent runs 8 letters (VCVVCVCC) against éprouvent's 9 (VCCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between épousent and éprouvent
A purely visual mix-up. épousent (\e.puz\) and éprouvent (\e.pʁuv\) 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 70422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
épousent is recorded at frequency rank #45,968, classified as averb, pronounced \e.puz\. éprouvent is at rank #24,454, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.pʁuv\.
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 70422, this pair ranks #51,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of épousent vs éprouvent
Shared letters: enoptué. Private to "épousent": s. Private to "éprouvent": rv.
"épousent" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCC · "éprouvent" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "épousent" and "éprouvent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "épousent" or "éprouvent" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "épousent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "éprouvent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,367 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "épousent" and "éprouvent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épousent vs excusent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #51,367 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.