éprouvantvséprouvanteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,301
“éprouvant” frequency rank
#39,121
“éprouvante” frequency rank
66422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éprouvant éprouvante
Definition Qui tient de l'épreuve. Féminin singulier de éprouvant.

Where the eye mixes éprouvant and éprouvante

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. éprouvant runs 9 letters (VCCVVCVCC) against éprouvante's 10 (VCCVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
éprouvant
10 ch
éprouvante

Look-alike desk: éprouvant vs éprouvante

A purely visual mix-up. éprouvant (\e.pʁu.vɑ̃\) and éprouvante (\e.pʁu.vɑ̃t\) 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 extra letter(s) - “éprouvant” sits inside “éprouvante”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éprouvant is recorded at frequency rank #27,301, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.pʁu.vɑ̃\. éprouvante is at rank #39,121, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.pʁu.vɑ̃t\.

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 66422, this pair ranks #67,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of éprouvant vs éprouvante

Shared letters: anoprtuvé. Private to "éprouvant": -. Private to "éprouvante": e.

"éprouvant" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC  ·  "éprouvante" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "éprouvant" and "éprouvante" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.pʁu.vɑ̃\ versus \e.pʁu.vɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "éprouvant" or "éprouvante"?
"éprouvant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,301 in our French list, against #39,121 for "éprouvante". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "éprouvant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éprouvante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éprouvant" and "éprouvante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éprouvante vs éprouvette". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #67,906 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