intéressaitvsintéressanteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: intéressait is a verb, intéressante is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“intéressait” is a verb and “intéressante” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,289
“intéressait” frequency rank
#3,619
“intéressante” frequency rank
17908
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intéressait intéressante
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de intéresser. Femme ou fille intéressante ou qui se croit telle.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set intéressait and intéressante apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
intéressait
12 ch
intéressante

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intéressait is \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.sɛ\ while intéressante is \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.sɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intéressait is recorded at frequency rank #14,289, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.sɛ\. intéressante is at rank #3,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ.sɑ̃t\.

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 17908, this pair ranks #380,883 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of intéressait vs intéressante

Shared letters: aeinrsté. Private to "intéressait": -. Private to "intéressante": -.

"intéressait" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVVC  ·  "intéressante" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCCV

Frequency comparison

intéressait#14,289
intéressante#3,619

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "intéressait" and "intéressante" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "intéressait" is a verb and "intéressante" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "intéressait" or "intéressante"?
"intéressante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,619 in our French list, against #14,289 for "intéressait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering intéressait vs intéressante

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “intéressait”; for a noun, it's “intéressante”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “intéressait” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list