évidentvsexigentConfusable pair

Quick tell: évident is a adjective, exigent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“évident” is an adjective and “exigent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,604
“évident” frequency rank
#11,045
“exigent” frequency rank
13649
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature évident exigent
Definition Dont le sens s’impose naturellement à l’esprit, qui a le caractère de l’évidence. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de exiger.

Where the eye mixes évident and exigent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

7 ch
évident
7 ch
exigent

Why the eye confuses évident with exigent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: évident is \e.vi.dɑ̃\ while exigent is \ɛɡ.ziʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

évident is recorded at frequency rank #2,604, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.vi.dɑ̃\. exigent is at rank #11,045, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛɡ.ziʒ\.

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 13649, this pair ranks #400,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of évident vs exigent

Shared letters: eint. Private to "évident": dvé. Private to "exigent": gx.

"évident" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC  ·  "exigent" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exigenteixgent · exgient · exiegnt · exigennt · exigentt · exigetn · exiggent · exignet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "évident" and "exigent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "évident" is an adjective and "exigent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "évident" or "exigent"?
"évident" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,604 in our French list, against #11,045 for "exigent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "évident" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exigent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "évident" and "exigent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exigent vs exigez". 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 #400,138 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