Which to use
“sortaient” and “sortait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,686
- “sortaient” frequency rank
- #8,040
- “sortait” frequency rank
- 27726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sortaient | sortait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de sortir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de sortir. |
Same sound, different letters: sortaient vs sortait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - sortaient and sortait
This is the hard kind. sortaient and sortait are pronounced identically (\sɔʁ.tɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sortaient is recorded at frequency rank #19,686, classified as averb, pronounced \sɔʁ.tɛ\. sortait is at rank #8,040, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɔʁ.tɛ\.
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 27726, this pair ranks #327,173 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sortaient vs sortait
Shared letters: aiorst. Private to "sortaient": en. Private to "sortait": -.
"sortaient" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC · "sortait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sortaient" for "sortait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sortaient" vs "sortait" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"sortaient" and "sortait" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "sortaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sortait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,173 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sortaient" and "sortait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sortaient vs sortirent". 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 #327,173 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.