laventvslavesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#35,573
“lavent” frequency rank
#26,781
“laves” frequency rank
62354
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lavent laves
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de laver. Pluriel de lave.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
lavent
5 ch
laves

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: lavent and laves carry the same recorded pronunciation, \lav\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62354, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lavent is recorded at frequency rank #35,573, classified as averb, pronounced \lav\. laves is at rank #26,781, tagged as anoun, 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 62354, this pair ranks #87,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lavent vs laves

Shared letters: aelv. Private to "lavent": nt. Private to "laves": s.

"lavent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "laves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laventalvent · laevnt · lavennt · laventt · lavetn · lavnet · lavvent · llavent
  • laveslaevs · lavess · lavse · lavves · llaves · lvaes

Frequency comparison

lavent#35,573
laves#26,781

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lavent" and "laves" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lavent" is a verb and "laves" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lavent" or "laves"?
"laves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,781 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 lavent vs laves

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lavent”; for a noun, it's “laves”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lavent” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list