Which to use
“prévoyaient” is a verb and “prévoyant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,995
- “prévoyaient” frequency rank
- #15,470
- “prévoyant” frequency rank
- 54465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prévoyaient | prévoyant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de prévoir. | Qui juge par avance qu'une chose devrait arriver. |
Where the eye mixes prévoyaient and prévoyant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between prévoyaient and prévoyant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prévoyaient is \pʁe.vwa.jɛ\ while prévoyant is \pʁe.vwa.jɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prévoyaient is recorded at frequency rank #38,995, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.vwa.jɛ\. prévoyant is at rank #15,470, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.vwa.jɑ̃\.
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 54465, this pair ranks #133,882 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prévoyaient vs prévoyant
Shared letters: anoprtvyé. Private to "prévoyaient": ei. Private to "prévoyant": -.
"prévoyaient" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVVVVVCC · "prévoyant" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "prévoyaient" and "prévoyant" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "prévoyaient" or "prévoyant"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "prévoyaient" and "prévoyant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "prévoyaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prévoyant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #133,882 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prévoyaient" and "prévoyant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prévoyant vs prévoyons". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #133,882 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.