rêvaientvsrêvantWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: rêvaient is a verb, rêvant is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“rêvaient” is a verb and “rêvant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,857
“rêvaient” frequency rank
#30,356
“rêvant” frequency rank
76213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rêvaient rêvant
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rêver. Qui fait rêver.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rêvaient and rêvant apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
rêvaient
6 ch
rêvant

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rêvaient is \ʁɛ.vɛ\ while rêvant is \ʁɛ.vɑ̃\. 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 76213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rêvaient is recorded at frequency rank #45,857, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɛ.vɛ\. rêvant is at rank #30,356, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁɛ.vɑ̃\.

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 76213, this pair ranks #31,771 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rêvaient vs rêvant

Shared letters: anrtvê. Private to "rêvaient": ei. Private to "rêvant": -.

"rêvaient" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC  ·  "rêvant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequency comparison

rêvaient#45,857
rêvant#30,356

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rêvaient" and "rêvant" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "rêvaient" is a verb and "rêvant" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "rêvaient" or "rêvant"?
"rêvant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,356 in our French list, against #45,857 for "rêvaient". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering rêvaient vs rêvant

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “rêvaient”; for an adjective, it's “rêvant”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rêvaient” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list