Which to use
“sent” and “sont” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,575
- “sent” frequency rank
- #47
- “sont” frequency rank
- 1622
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sent | sont |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de sentir. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de être. |
Where the eye mixes sent and sont
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sent vs sont
A purely visual mix-up. sent (\sɑ̃\) and sont (\sɔ̃\) 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 a single letter - e in “sent” becomes o in “sont”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sent is recorded at frequency rank #1,575, classified as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃\. sont is at rank #47, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɔ̃\.
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 1622, this pair ranks #437,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sent vs sont
Shared letters: nst. Private to "sent": e. Private to "sont": o.
"sent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sent" and "sont" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sent" or "sont"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "sent" and "sont" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sont" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sent" and "sont" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sent vs sucent". 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 #437,701 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.