Which to use
“ouvrait” and “ouvrir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,211
- “ouvrait” frequency rank
- #1,186
- “ouvrir” frequency rank
- 18397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ouvrait | ouvrir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de ouvrir. | Faire que ce qui était clos, fermé, ne le soit plus. |
Where the eye mixes ouvrait and ouvrir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ouvrait and ouvrir
A purely visual mix-up. ouvrait (\u.vʁɛ\) and ouvrir (\u.vʁiʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ouvrait is recorded at frequency rank #17,211, classified as averb, pronounced \u.vʁɛ\. ouvrir is at rank #1,186, tagged as averb, pronounced \u.vʁiʁ\.
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 18397, this pair ranks #378,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ouvrait vs ouvrir
Shared letters: ioruv. Private to "ouvrait": at. Private to "ouvrir": -.
"ouvrait" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVVC · "ouvrir" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ouvrait" and "ouvrir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ouvrait" vs "ouvrir" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ouvrait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ouvrir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ouvrait" and "ouvrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ouvraient vs ouvrait". 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 #378,536 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.