Which to use
“lave” is a noun and “lavent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,996
- “lave” frequency rank
- #35,573
- “lavent” frequency rank
- 41569
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lave | lavent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | , Roche en fusion rejetée par un volcan en éruption. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de laver. |
Same sound, different letters: lave vs lavent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - lave / lavent
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: lave and lavent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \lav\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “lave” sits inside “lavent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lave is recorded at frequency rank #5,996, classified as anoun, pronounced \lav\. 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 41569, this pair ranks #232,156 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lave vs lavent
Shared letters: aelv. Private to "lave": -. Private to "lavent": nt.
"lave" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lavent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lave" for "lavent" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "lave" or "lavent" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "lave" / "lavent". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "lave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lavent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,156 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lave" and "lavent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lavait vs lavent". 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 #232,156 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.