Which to use
“savais” and “suivais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,836
- “savais” frequency rank
- #25,142
- “suivais” frequency rank
- 26978
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | savais | suivais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de savoir. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe suivre. |
Where the eye mixes savais and suivais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. savais runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against suivais's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: savais vs suivais
A purely visual mix-up. savais (\sa.vɛ\) and suivais (\sɥi.vɛ\) 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 26978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
savais is recorded at frequency rank #1,836, classified as averb, pronounced \sa.vɛ\. suivais is at rank #25,142, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɥi.vɛ\.
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 26978, this pair ranks #331,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of savais vs suivais
Shared letters: aisv. Private to "savais": -. Private to "suivais": u.
"savais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "suivais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "savais" and "suivais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "savais" or "suivais"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "savais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suivais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #331,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "savais" and "suivais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suivais vs suivrai". 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 #331,727 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.