savantvssuivantConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,942
“savant” frequency rank
#1,075
“suivant” frequency rank
12017
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature savant suivant
Definition Qui sait beaucoup en matière d’érudition ou de science. Qui est après, qui vient après.

Where the eye mixes savant and suivant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. savant runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against suivant's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
savant
7 ch
suivant

Look-alike desk: savant vs suivant

A purely visual mix-up. savant (\sa.vɑ̃\) and suivant (\sɥi.vɑ̃\) 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 12017, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

savant is recorded at frequency rank #10,942, classified as anadj, pronounced \sa.vɑ̃\. suivant is at rank #1,075, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɥi.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 12017, this pair ranks #406,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of savant vs suivant

Shared letters: anstv. Private to "savant": -. Private to "suivant": iu.

"savant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "suivant" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • savant ← asvant · saavnt · savannt · savantt · savatn · savnat · savvant · ssavant
  • suivant ← siuvant · ssuivant · suiavnt · suivannt · suivantt · suivatn · suivnat · suivvant

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "savant" for "suivant" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sa.vɑ̃\ versus \sɥi.vɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "savant" vs "suivant" - which ranks higher?
"suivant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,075 in our French list, against #10,942 for "savant". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "savant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suivant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #406,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "savant" and "suivant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "savanes vs savant". 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 #406,898 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list