suivaisvssuivantWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: suivais is a verb, suivant is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set suivais and suivant apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
suivais
7 ch
suivant

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

suivais and suivant form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. 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.

Frequency comparison

suivais#25,142
suivant#1,075

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "suivais" and "suivant" be used interchangeably?
No, "suivais" and "suivant" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering suivais vs suivant

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “suivais”; for an adjective, it's “suivant”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “suivais” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list