Which to use
“nourrissait” is a verb and “nourrissant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,449
- “nourrissait” frequency rank
- #24,691
- “nourrissant” frequency rank
- 63140
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nourrissait | nourrissant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de nourrir. | Qui sustente ; qui nourrit beaucoup. |
Where the eye mixes nourrissait and nourrissant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. nourrissait (CVVCCVCCVVC) and nourrissant (CVVCCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: nourrissait vs nourrissant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nourrissait is \nu.ʁi.sɛ\ while nourrissant is \nu.ʁi.sɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “nourrissait” becomes n in “nourrissant”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nourrissait is recorded at frequency rank #38,449, classified as averb, pronounced \nu.ʁi.sɛ\. nourrissant is at rank #24,691, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nu.ʁi.sɑ̃\.
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 63140, this pair ranks #83,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nourrissait vs nourrissant
Shared letters: ainorstu. Private to "nourrissait": -. Private to "nourrissant": -.
"nourrissait" · 11 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVVC · "nourrissant" · 11 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nourrissait ← nnourrissait · norurissait · nourirssait · nourissait · nourrisait · nourrisasit · nourrissaitt · nourrissati
- nourrissant ← nnourrissant · norurissant · nourirssant · nourissant · nourrisant · nourrisasnt · nourrissannt · nourrissantt
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "nourrissait" and "nourrissant" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "nourrissait" or "nourrissant" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "nourrissait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nourrissant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nourrissait" and "nourrissant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nourrissait vs nourrissent". 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 #83,543 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.