Which to use
“expliquent” and “expliquer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,183
- “expliquent” frequency rank
- #1,112
- “expliquer” frequency rank
- 8295
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | expliquent | expliquer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de expliquer. | Rendre clair ; faire comprendre. |
Where the eye mixes expliquent and expliquer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses expliquent with expliquer
A purely visual mix-up. expliquent (\ɛk.splik\) and expliquer (\ɛks.pli.ke\) 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 8295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
expliquent is recorded at frequency rank #7,183, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛk.splik\. expliquer is at rank #1,112, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛks.pli.ke\.
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 8295, this pair ranks #420,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of expliquent vs expliquer
Shared letters: eilpqux. Private to "expliquent": nt. Private to "expliquer": r.
"expliquent" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVVCC · "expliquer" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- expliquent ← epxliquent · exlpiquent · expilquent · expliqeunt · expliqquent · expliquennt · expliquentt · expliquetn
- expliquer ← epxliquer · exlpiquer · expilquer · expliqeur · expliqquer · expliquerr · expliqure · expliuqer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "expliquent" for "expliquer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "expliquent" vs "expliquer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "expliquent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "expliquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "expliquent" and "expliquer" 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 #420,508 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.