Which to use
“suivais” is a verb and “suivant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,142
- “suivais” frequency rank
- #1,075
- “suivant” frequency rank
- 26217
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suivais | suivant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe suivre. | Qui est après, qui vient après. |
Where the eye mixes suivais and suivant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. suivais (CVVCVVC) and suivant (CVVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses suivais with suivant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suivais is \sɥi.vɛ\ while suivant is \sɥi.vɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26217, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suivais is recorded at frequency rank #25,142, classified as averb, pronounced \sɥi.vɛ\. suivant is at rank #1,075, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɥi.vɑ̃\.
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 26217, this pair ranks #336,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of suivais vs suivant
Shared letters: aisuv. Private to "suivais": -. Private to "suivant": nt.
"suivais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "suivant" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "suivais" and "suivant" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "suivais" or "suivant"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "suivais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suivant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suivais" and "suivant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suivais vs suivrai". 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 #336,412 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.