Which to use
“hériter” and “hésites” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,626
- “hériter” frequency rank
- #28,992
- “hésites” frequency rank
- 53618
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hériter | hésites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Devenir propriétaire d’une chose par droit de succession. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de hésiter. |
Where the eye mixes hériter and hésites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hériter and hésites follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses hériter with hésites
A purely visual mix-up. hériter (^((h muet))\e.ʁi.te\) and hésites (^((h muet))\e.zit\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hériter is recorded at frequency rank #24,626, classified as averb, pronounced ^((h muet))\e.ʁi.te\. hésites is at rank #28,992, tagged as averb, pronounced ^((h muet))\e.zit\.
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 53618, this pair ranks #139,503 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hériter vs hésites
Shared letters: ehité. Private to "hériter": r. Private to "hésites": s.
"hériter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "hésites" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hériter" and "hésites" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "hériter" or "hésites" show up more?
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 "hériter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hésites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #139,503 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hériter" and "hésites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hésita vs hésites". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #139,503 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.