roulaientvsroulaitWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“roulaient” and “roulait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,508
“roulaient” frequency rank
#19,973
“roulait” frequency rank
61481
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roulaient roulait
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rouler. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rouler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set roulaient and roulait apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
roulaient
7 ch
roulait

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. roulaient and roulait are pronounced identically (\ʁu.lɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roulaient is recorded at frequency rank #41,508, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁu.lɛ\. roulait is at rank #19,973, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁu.lɛ\.

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 61481, this pair ranks #92,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of roulaient vs roulait

Shared letters: ailortu. Private to "roulaient": en. Private to "roulait": -.

"roulaient" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVVCC  ·  "roulait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roulaientorulaient · roluaient · roualient · roulaeint · roulaiennt · roulaientt · roulaietn · roulainet
  • roulaitorulait · roluait · roualit · roulaitt · roulati · rouliat · roullait · rroulait

Frequency comparison

roulaient#41,508
roulait#19,973

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "roulaient" and "roulait" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁu.lɛ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "roulaient" or "roulait"?
"roulait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,973 in our French list, against #41,508 for "roulaient". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering roulaient vs roulait

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “roulaient” 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