Which to use
“obtenait” and “obtenant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,461
- “obtenait” frequency rank
- #19,923
- “obtenant” frequency rank
- 49384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obtenait | obtenant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de obtenir. | Participe présent de obtenir. |
Where the eye mixes obtenait and obtenant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses obtenait with obtenant
A purely visual mix-up. obtenait (\ɔp.tə.nɛ\) and obtenant (\ɔp.tə.nɑ̃\) 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 a single letter - i in “obtenait” becomes n in “obtenant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obtenait is recorded at frequency rank #29,461, classified as averb, pronounced \ɔp.tə.nɛ\. obtenant is at rank #19,923, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɔp.tə.nɑ̃\.
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 49384, this pair ranks #171,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of obtenait vs obtenant
Shared letters: abenot. Private to "obtenait": i. Private to "obtenant": -.
"obtenait" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "obtenant" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "obtenait" and "obtenant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "obtenait" or "obtenant"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "obtenait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "obtenant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obtenait" and "obtenant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obtenant vs obtenons". 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 #171,145 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.