éprouvaitvséprouventWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,566
“éprouvait” frequency rank
#24,454
“éprouvent” frequency rank
65020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éprouvait éprouvent
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de éprouver. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de éprouver.

Where the eye mixes éprouvait and éprouvent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. éprouvait (VCCVVCVVC) and éprouvent (VCCVVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
éprouvait
9 ch
éprouvent

Why the eye confuses éprouvait with éprouvent

A purely visual mix-up. éprouvait (\e.pʁu.vɛ\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éprouvait is recorded at frequency rank #40,566, classified as averb, pronounced \e.pʁu.vɛ\. 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 65020, this pair ranks #74,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of éprouvait vs éprouvent

Shared letters: oprtuvé. Private to "éprouvait": ai. Private to "éprouvent": en.

"éprouvait" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVVC  ·  "éprouvent" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "éprouvait" and "éprouvent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.pʁu.vɛ\ versus \e.pʁuv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "éprouvait" or "éprouvent"?
"éprouvent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,454 in our French list, against #40,566 for "éprouvait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "éprouvait" and "éprouvent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éprouvait" 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 #74,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éprouvait" and "éprouvent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éprouvait vs éprouvante". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,257 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