obtiensvsobtientWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,924
“obtiens” frequency rank
#3,553
“obtient” frequency rank
23477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obtiens obtient
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de obtenir. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de obtenir.

Same sound, different letters: obtiens vs obtient

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. obtiens and obtient follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
obtiens
7 ch
obtient

Ear matches; page differs - obtiens and obtient

This is the hard kind. obtiens and obtient are pronounced identically (\ɔp.tjɛ̃\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - s in “obtiens” becomes t in “obtient”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obtiens is recorded at frequency rank #19,924, classified as averb, pronounced \ɔp.tjɛ̃\. obtient is at rank #3,553, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɔp.tjɛ̃\.

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 23477, this pair ranks #352,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of obtiens vs obtient

Shared letters: beinot. Private to "obtiens": s. Private to "obtient": -.

"obtiens" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC  ·  "obtient" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obtiensbotiens · obbtiens · obitens · obteins · obtienns · obtienss · obtiesn · obtines
  • obtientbotient · obbtient · obitent · obteint · obtiennt · obtientt · obtietn · obtinet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "obtiens" and "obtient" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɔp.tjɛ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "obtiens" or "obtient" show up more?
"obtient" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,553 in our French list, against #19,924 for "obtiens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "obtiens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "obtient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #352,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "obtiens" and "obtient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obtient vs osaient". 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 #352,275 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list