Which to use
“promenait” and “provenait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,689
- “promenait” frequency rank
- #23,992
- “provenait” frequency rank
- 58681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | promenait | provenait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de promener. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de provenir. |
Where the eye mixes promenait and provenait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. promenait and provenait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: promenait vs provenait
A purely visual mix-up. promenait (\pʁɔ.mə.nɛ\) and provenait (\pʁɔ.və.nɛ\) 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 a single letter - m in “promenait” becomes v in “provenait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
promenait is recorded at frequency rank #34,689, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.mə.nɛ\. provenait is at rank #23,992, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.və.nɛ\.
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 58681, this pair ranks #107,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of promenait vs provenait
Shared letters: aeinoprt. Private to "promenait": m. Private to "provenait": v.
"promenait" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC · "provenait" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "promenait" for "provenait" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "promenait" or "provenait" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "promenait" and "provenait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "promenait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provenait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "promenait" and "provenait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "promenait vs prônait". 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 #107,574 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.