lâchent vs lavent, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“lâchent” and “lavent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#21,996
“lâchent” frequency rank: #35,573
“lavent” frequency rank: 57569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lâchent	lavent
Definition	Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de lâcher.	Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de laver.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lâchent and lavent apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

lâchent

6 ch

lavent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lâchent (\laʃ\) and lavent (\lav\) 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 57569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lâchent is recorded at frequency rank #21,996, classified as averb, pronounced \laʃ\. lavent is at rank #35,573, tagged as averb, pronounced \lav\.

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 57569, this pair ranks #114,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lâchent vs lavent

Shared letters: elnt. Private to "lâchent": châ. Private to "lavent": av.

"lâchent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "lavent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

lavent ← alvent · laevnt · lavennt · laventt · lavetn · lavnet · lavvent · llavent

Frequency comparison

lâchent#21,996

lavent#35,573

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lâchent" and "lavent" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\laʃ\ versus \lav\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "lâchent" or "lavent"?

"lâchent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,996 in our French list, against #35,573 for "lavent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lâchent vs lavent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lâchent” entry
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