suivirentvssurviventConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,476
“suivirent” frequency rank
#20,289
“survivent” frequency rank
41765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature suivirent survivent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de suivre. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de survivre.

Where the eye mixes suivirent and survivent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. suivirent (CVVCVCVCC) and survivent (CVCCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
suivirent
9 ch
survivent

Visual trap between suivirent and survivent

A purely visual mix-up. suivirent (\sɥi.viʁ\) and survivent (\syʁ.viv\) 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 41765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

suivirent is recorded at frequency rank #21,476, classified as averb, pronounced \sɥi.viʁ\. survivent is at rank #20,289, tagged as averb, pronounced \syʁ.viv\.

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 41765, this pair ranks #230,669 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of suivirent vs survivent

Shared letters: einrstuv. Private to "suivirent": -. Private to "survivent": -.

"suivirent" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVCC  ·  "survivent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • suivirentsiuvirent · ssuivirent · suiivrent · suiviernt · suivirennt · suivirentt · suiviretn · suivirnet
  • surviventsruvivent · ssurvivent · surivvent · surrvivent · survievnt · survivennt · surviventt · survivetn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "suivirent" for "survivent" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɥi.viʁ\ versus \syʁ.viv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "suivirent" or "survivent" show up more?
"survivent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,289 in our French list, against #21,476 for "suivirent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "suivirent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "survivent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,669 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "suivirent" and "survivent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "servirent vs suivirent". 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 #230,669 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