savantsvssuivantsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,862
“savants” frequency rank
#3,041
“suivants” frequency rank
15903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature savants suivants
Definition Masculin pluriel de l’adjectif savant. Masculin pluriel de suivant.

Where the eye mixes savants and suivants

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. savants runs 7 letters (CVCVCCC) against suivants's 8 (CVVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
savants
8 ch
suivants

Look-alike desk: savants vs suivants

A purely visual mix-up. savants (\sa.vɑ̃\) and suivants (\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 15903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

savants is recorded at frequency rank #12,862, classified as anadj, pronounced \sa.vɑ̃\. suivants is at rank #3,041, 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 15903, this pair ranks #390,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of savants vs suivants

Shared letters: anstv. Private to "savants": -. Private to "suivants": iu.

"savants" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "suivants" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • savants ← asvants · saavnts · savannts · savanst · savantss · savantts · savatns · savnats
  • suivants ← siuvants · ssuivants · suiavnts · suivannts · suivanst · suivantss · suivantts · suivatns

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "savants" and "suivants" be used interchangeably?
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.
Which is more common, "savants" or "suivants"?
"suivants" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,041 in our French list, against #12,862 for "savants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "savants" and "suivants" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "savants" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "suivants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #390,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "savants" and "suivants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "savanes vs savants". 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 #390,323 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