Which to use
“suivais” is a verb and “suivies” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,142
- “suivais” frequency rank
- #11,867
- “suivies” frequency rank
- 37009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suivais | suivies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe suivre. | Féminin pluriel de suivi. |
Where the eye mixes suivais and suivies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. suivais and suivies follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between suivais and suivies
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suivais is \sɥi.vɛ\ while suivies is \sɥi.vi\. 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 37009, 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\. suivies is at rank #11,867, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɥi.vi\.
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 37009, this pair ranks #265,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of suivais vs suivies
Shared letters: isuv. Private to "suivais": a. Private to "suivies": e.
"suivais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "suivies" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "suivais" for "suivies" ever safe?
Frequency check: "suivais" vs "suivies" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "suivais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suivies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,516 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suivais" and "suivies" 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 #265,516 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.