sentirvssentiraiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,756
“sentir” frequency rank
#47,040
“sentirai” frequency rank
48796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sentir sentirai
Definition Recevoir quelque impression par le moyen des sens, éprouver en soi quelque chose d’agréable ou de pénible. Première personne du singulier du futur de sentir.

Where the eye mixes sentir and sentirai

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

6 ch
sentir
8 ch
sentirai

Look-alike desk: sentir vs sentirai

A purely visual mix-up. sentir (\sɑ̃.tiʁ\) and sentirai (\sɑ̃.ti.ʁe\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “sentir” sits inside “sentirai”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sentir is recorded at frequency rank #1,756, classified as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.tiʁ\. sentirai is at rank #47,040, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.ti.ʁe\.

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 48796, this pair ranks #175,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sentir vs sentirai

Shared letters: einrst. Private to "sentir": -. Private to "sentirai": a.

"sentir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sentirai" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sentiresntir · senitr · senntir · sentirr · sentri · senttir · setnir · snetir
  • sentiraiesntirai · senitrai · senntirai · sentiari · sentiria · sentirrai · sentriai · senttirai

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sentir" for "sentirai" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.tiʁ\ versus \sɑ̃.ti.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "sentir" or "sentirai" show up more?
"sentir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,756 in our French list, against #47,040 for "sentirai". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sentir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sentirai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #175,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sentir" and "sentirai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sentirai vs sentiras". 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 #175,967 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