Which to use
“fournissaient” and “fournissent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,096
- “fournissaient” frequency rank
- #9,838
- “fournissent” frequency rank
- 58934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fournissaient | fournissent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de fournir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de fournir. |
Where the eye mixes fournissaient and fournissent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. fournissaient runs 13 letters (CVVCCVCCVVVCC) against fournissent's 11 (CVVCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fournissaient with fournissent
A purely visual mix-up. fournissaient (\fuʁ.ni.sɛ\) and fournissent (\fuʁ.nis\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fournissaient is recorded at frequency rank #49,096, classified as averb, pronounced \fuʁ.ni.sɛ\. fournissent is at rank #9,838, tagged as averb, pronounced \fuʁ.nis\.
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 58934, this pair ranks #106,055 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fournissaient vs fournissent
Shared letters: efinorstu. Private to "fournissaient": a. Private to "fournissent": -.
"fournissaient" · 13 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVVVCC · "fournissent" · 11 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fournissaient ← ffournissaient · forunissaient · founrissaient · fourinssaient · fournisaient · fournisasient · fournissaeint · fournissaiennt
- fournissent ← ffournissent · forunissent · founrissent · fourinssent · fournisent · fournisesnt · fournissennt · fournissentt
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fournissaient" and "fournissent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fournissaient" or "fournissent"?
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 "fournissaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fournissent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #106,055 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fournissaient" and "fournissent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fournissaient vs fournissait". 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 #106,055 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.