Which to use
“souhaitais” and “souhaitant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,031
- “souhaitais” frequency rank
- #10,584
- “souhaitant” frequency rank
- 33615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | souhaitais | souhaitant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de souhaiter. | Participe présent de souhaiter. |
Where the eye mixes souhaitais and souhaitant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. souhaitais (CVVCVVCVVC) and souhaitant (CVVCVVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses souhaitais with souhaitant
A purely visual mix-up. souhaitais (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
souhaitais is recorded at frequency rank #23,031, 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 33615, this pair ranks #289,439 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of souhaitais vs souhaitant
Shared letters: ahiostu. Private to "souhaitais": -. Private to "souhaitant": n.
"souhaitais" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVVCVVC · "souhaitant" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- souhaitais ← osuhaitais · sohuaitais · souahitais · souhaiatis · souhaitaiss · souhaitasi · souhaitias · souhaittais
- souhaitant ← osuhaitant · sohuaitant · souahitant · souhaiatnt · souhaitannt · souhaitantt · souhaitatn · souhaitnat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "souhaitais" for "souhaitant" ever safe?
Which is more common, "souhaitais" or "souhaitant"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "souhaitais" and "souhaitant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "souhaitais" 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 #289,439 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "souhaitais" and "souhaitant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "souhaitaient vs souhaitais". 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 #289,439 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.