suivaisvssuivraiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,142
“suivais” frequency rank
#39,559
“suivrai” frequency rank
64701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suivais suivrai
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe suivre. Première personne du singulier du futur de suivre.

Where the eye mixes suivais and suivrai

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. suivais (CVVCVVC) and suivrai (CVVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
suivais
7 ch
suivrai

Visual trap between suivais and suivrai

A purely visual mix-up. suivais (\sɥi.vɛ\) and suivrai (\sɥi.vʁe\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64701, 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\. suivrai is at rank #39,559, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɥi.vʁe\.

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 64701, this pair ranks #75,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of suivais vs suivrai

Shared letters: aisuv. Private to "suivais": -. Private to "suivrai": r.

"suivais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "suivrai" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suivaissiuvais · ssuivais · suiavis · suivaiss · suivasi · suivias · suivvais · suviais
  • suivraisiuvrai · ssuivrai · suirvai · suivari · suivria · suivrrai · suivvrai · suvirai

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "suivais" and "suivrai" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɥi.vɛ\ versus \sɥi.vʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "suivais" vs "suivrai" - which ranks higher?
"suivais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,142 in our French list, against #39,559 for "suivrai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "suivais" and "suivrai" 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 "suivrai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "suivais" and "suivrai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suivrai vs suivrait". 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 #75,766 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