succédavssuccédantWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,787
“succéda” frequency rank
#29,556
“succédant” frequency rank
54343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature succéda succédant
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de succéder. Participe présent de succéder.

Where the eye mixes succéda and succédant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. succéda runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against succédant's 9 (CVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
succéda
9 ch
succédant

Why the eye confuses succéda with succédant

A purely visual mix-up. succéda (\syk.se.da\) and succédant (\syk.se.dɑ̃\) 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) - “succéda” sits inside “succédant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

succéda is recorded at frequency rank #24,787, classified as averb, pronounced \syk.se.da\. succédant is at rank #29,556, tagged as averb, pronounced \syk.se.dɑ̃\.

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 54343, this pair ranks #134,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of succéda vs succédant

Shared letters: acdsué. Private to "succéda": -. Private to "succédant": nt.

"succéda" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "succédant" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "succéda" for "succédant" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\syk.se.da\ versus \syk.se.dɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "succéda" or "succédant"?
"succéda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,787 in our French list, against #29,556 for "succédant". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "succéda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "succédant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "succéda" and "succédant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "succéda vs succédera". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #134,680 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