ordonnavsordonnantTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,099
“ordonna” frequency rank
#30,289
“ordonnant” frequency rank
51388
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ordonna ordonnant
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de ordonner. Participe présent de ordonner.

Where the eye mixes ordonna and ordonnant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. ordonna runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against ordonnant's 9 (VCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
ordonna
9 ch
ordonnant

Look-alike desk: ordonna vs ordonnant

A purely visual mix-up. ordonna (\ɔʁ.dɔ.na\) and ordonnant (\ɔʁ.dɔ.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 2 extra letter(s) - “ordonna” sits inside “ordonnant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ordonna is recorded at frequency rank #21,099, classified as averb, pronounced \ɔʁ.dɔ.na\. ordonnant is at rank #30,289, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɔʁ.dɔ.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 51388, this pair ranks #155,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ordonna vs ordonnant

Shared letters: adnor. Private to "ordonna": -. Private to "ordonnant": t.

"ordonna" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "ordonnant" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ordonna ← odronna · orddonna · ordnona · ordona · ordonan · orodnna · orrdonna · rodonna
  • ordonnant ← odronnant · orddonnant · ordnonant · ordonannt · ordonant · ordonnannt · ordonnantt · ordonnatn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ordonna" and "ordonnant" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɔʁ.dɔ.na\ versus \ɔʁ.dɔ.nɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ordonna" vs "ordonnant" - which ranks higher?
"ordonna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,099 in our French list, against #30,289 for "ordonnant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ordonna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ordonnant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ordonna" and "ordonnant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ordonnant vs ordonnent". 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 #155,371 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