Which to use
“prévoient” and “prévoyaient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,453
- “prévoient” frequency rank
- #38,995
- “prévoyaient” frequency rank
- 55448
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prévoient | prévoyaient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de prévoir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de prévoir. |
Where the eye mixes prévoient and prévoyaient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. prévoient runs 9 letters (CCVCVVVCC) against prévoyaient's 11 (CCVCVVVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: prévoient vs prévoyaient
A purely visual mix-up. prévoient (\pʁe.vwa\) and prévoyaient (\pʁe.vwa.jɛ\) 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 55448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prévoient is recorded at frequency rank #16,453, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.vwa\. prévoyaient is at rank #38,995, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.vwa.jɛ\.
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 55448, this pair ranks #127,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prévoient vs prévoyaient
Shared letters: einoprtvé. Private to "prévoient": -. Private to "prévoyaient": ay.
"prévoient" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVVCC · "prévoyaient" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVVVVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prévoient" for "prévoyaient" ever safe?
Frequency check: "prévoient" vs "prévoyaient" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "prévoient" and "prévoyaient" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "prévoient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prévoyaient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #127,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prévoient" and "prévoyaient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prévalent vs prévoient". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #127,371 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.