Which to use
“suivais” and “suivons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,142
- “suivais” frequency rank
- #19,998
- “suivons” frequency rank
- 45140
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suivais | suivons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe suivre. | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe suivre. |
Where the eye mixes suivais and suivons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. suivais (CVVCVVC) and suivons (CVVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between suivais and suivons
A purely visual mix-up. suivais (\sɥi.vɛ\) and suivons (\sɥi.vɔ̃\) 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 45140, 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\. suivons is at rank #19,998, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɥi.vɔ̃\.
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 45140, this pair ranks #205,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of suivais vs suivons
Shared letters: isuv. Private to "suivais": a. Private to "suivons": no.
"suivais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "suivons" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "suivais" and "suivons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "suivais" or "suivons"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "suivais" and "suivons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "suivais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suivons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suivais" and "suivons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suivons vs suivrons". 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 #205,078 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.