prétendezvsprétendsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,502
“prétendez” frequency rank
#18,294
“prétends” frequency rank
55796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prétendez prétends
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de prétendre. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de prétendre.

Where the eye mixes prétendez and prétends

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
prétendez
8 ch
prétends

Look-alike desk: prétendez vs prétends

A purely visual mix-up. prétendez (\pʁe.tɑ̃.de\) and prétends (\pʁe.tɑ̃\) 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 55796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prétendez is recorded at frequency rank #37,502, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.tɑ̃.de\. prétends is at rank #18,294, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.tɑ̃\.

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 55796, this pair ranks #125,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prétendez vs prétends

Shared letters: denprté. Private to "prétendez": z. Private to "prétends": s.

"prétendez" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "prétends" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prétendez" and "prétends" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pʁe.tɑ̃.de\ versus \pʁe.tɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "prétendez" vs "prétends" - which ranks higher?
"prétends" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,294 in our French list, against #37,502 for "prétendez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "prétendez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prétends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prétendez" and "prétends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prétendez vs prétendues". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #125,194 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