Which to use
“explique” and “expliquent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #941
- “explique” frequency rank
- #7,183
- “expliquent” frequency rank
- 8124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | explique | expliquent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe expliquer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de expliquer. |
Same sound, different letters: explique vs expliquent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - explique and expliquent
This is the hard kind. explique and expliquent are pronounced identically (\ɛk.splik\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “explique” sits inside “expliquent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
explique is recorded at frequency rank #941, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛk.splik\. expliquent is at rank #7,183, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛk.splik\.
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 8124, this pair ranks #421,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of explique vs expliquent
Shared letters: eilpqux. Private to "explique": -. Private to "expliquent": nt.
"explique" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVV · "expliquent" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- explique ← epxlique · exlpique · expilque · expliqeu · expliqque · expliuqe · expllique · explqiue
- expliquent ← epxliquent · exlpiquent · expilquent · expliqeunt · expliqquent · expliquennt · expliquentt · expliquetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "explique" and "expliquent" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "explique" or "expliquent" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "explique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "expliquent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "explique" and "expliquent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "expliquaient vs expliquent". 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 #421,031 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.