paraissaientvsparaissantWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,084
“paraissaient” frequency rank
#36,085
“paraissant” frequency rank
72169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paraissaient paraissant
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de paraître (ou paraitre). Participe présent de paraître (ou paraitre).

Where the eye mixes paraissaient and paraissant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. paraissaient runs 12 letters (CVCVVCCVVVCC) against paraissant's 10 (CVCVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
paraissaient
10 ch
paraissant

Look-alike desk: paraissaient vs paraissant

A purely visual mix-up. paraissaient (\pa.ʁɛ.sɛ\) and paraissant (\pa.ʁɛ.sɑ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paraissaient is recorded at frequency rank #36,084, classified as averb, pronounced \pa.ʁɛ.sɛ\. paraissant is at rank #36,085, tagged as averb, pronounced \pa.ʁɛ.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 72169, this pair ranks #44,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paraissaient vs paraissant

Shared letters: ainprst. Private to "paraissaient": e. Private to "paraissant": -.

"paraissaient" · 12 letters · shape CVCVVCCVVVCC  ·  "paraissant" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paraissaient ← apraissaient · paarissaient · paraisaient · paraisasient · paraissaeint · paraissaiennt · paraissaientt · paraissaietn
  • paraissant ← apraissant · paarissant · paraisant · paraisasnt · paraissannt · paraissantt · paraissatn · paraissnat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paraissaient" and "paraissant" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.ʁɛ.sɛ\ versus \pa.ʁɛ.sɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "paraissaient" vs "paraissant" - which ranks higher?
"paraissaient" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,084 in our French list, against #36,085 for "paraissant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "paraissaient" and "paraissant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paraissaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paraissant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paraissaient" and "paraissant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paraissait vs paraissant". 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 #44,965 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