suivaitvssurvitTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,071
“suivait” frequency rank
#16,245
“survit” frequency rank
28316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suivait survit
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe suivre. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de survivre.

Where the eye mixes suivait and survit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. suivait runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against survit's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
suivait
6 ch
survit

Why the eye confuses suivait with survit

A purely visual mix-up. suivait (\sɥi.vɛ\) and survit (\syʁ.vi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

suivait is recorded at frequency rank #12,071, classified as averb, pronounced \sɥi.vɛ\. survit is at rank #16,245, tagged as averb, pronounced \syʁ.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 28316, this pair ranks #323,597 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of suivait vs survit

Shared letters: istuv. Private to "suivait": a. Private to "survit": r.

"suivait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "survit" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suivaitsiuvait · ssuivait · suiavit · suivaitt · suivati · suiviat · suivvait · suviait
  • survitsruvit · ssurvit · surivt · surrvit · survitt · survti · survvit · suvrit

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "suivait" for "survit" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɥi.vɛ\ versus \syʁ.vi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "suivait" or "survit"?
"suivait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,071 in our French list, against #16,245 for "survit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "suivait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "survit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,597 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "suivait" and "survit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "surfait vs survit". 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 #323,597 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