Which to use
“souhaitaient” and “souhaitant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,102
- “souhaitaient” frequency rank
- #10,584
- “souhaitant” frequency rank
- 32686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souhaitaient | souhaitant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de souhaiter. | Participe présent de souhaiter. |
Where the eye mixes souhaitaient and souhaitant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. souhaitaient runs 12 letters (CVVCVVCVVVCC) against souhaitant's 10 (CVVCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses souhaitaient with souhaitant
A purely visual mix-up. souhaitaient (\swɛ.tɛ\) and souhaitant (\swɛ.tɑ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souhaitaient is recorded at frequency rank #22,102, classified as averb, pronounced \swɛ.tɛ\. souhaitant is at rank #10,584, tagged as averb, pronounced \swɛ.tɑ̃\.
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 32686, this pair ranks #295,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of souhaitaient vs souhaitant
Shared letters: ahinostu. Private to "souhaitaient": e. Private to "souhaitant": -.
"souhaitaient" · 12 letters · shape CVVCVVCVVVCC · "souhaitant" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- souhaitaient ← osuhaitaient · sohuaitaient · souahitaient · souhaiatient · souhaitaeint · souhaitaiennt · souhaitaientt · souhaitaietn
- souhaitant ← osuhaitant · sohuaitant · souahitant · souhaiatnt · souhaitannt · souhaitantt · souhaitatn · souhaitnat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "souhaitaient" for "souhaitant" ever safe?
Which is more common, "souhaitaient" or "souhaitant"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "souhaitaient" and "souhaitant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "souhaitaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "souhaitant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #295,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souhaitaient" and "souhaitant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "souhaitaient vs souhaiteraient". 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 #295,610 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.