Which to use
“protègent” and “protégeons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,450
- “protègent” frequency rank
- #46,374
- “protégeons” frequency rank
- 59824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | protègent | protégeons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de protéger. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de protéger. |
Where the eye mixes protègent and protégeons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. protègent runs 9 letters (CCVCVCVCC) against protégeons's 10 (CCVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between protègent and protégeons
A purely visual mix-up. protègent (\pʁɔ.tɛʒ\) and protégeons (\pʁɔ.te.ʒɔ̃\) 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 59824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
protègent is recorded at frequency rank #13,450, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.tɛʒ\. protégeons is at rank #46,374, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.te.ʒɔ̃\.
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 59824, this pair ranks #100,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of protègent vs protégeons
Shared letters: egnoprt. Private to "protègent": è. Private to "protégeons": sé.
"protègent" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCC · "protégeons" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "protègent" for "protégeons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "protègent" vs "protégeons" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "protègent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "protégeons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "protègent" and "protégeons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "protégeant vs protégeons". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #100,998 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.