Which to use
“surveillait” and “surveillent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,083
- “surveillait” frequency rank
- #23,042
- “surveillent” frequency rank
- 60125
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | surveillait | surveillent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de surveiller. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de surveiller. |
Where the eye mixes surveillait and surveillent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. surveillait (CVCCVVCCVVC) and surveillent (CVCCVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses surveillait with surveillent
A purely visual mix-up. surveillait (\syʁ.ve.jɛ\) and surveillent (\syʁ.vɛj\) 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 60125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
surveillait is recorded at frequency rank #37,083, classified as averb, pronounced \syʁ.ve.jɛ\. surveillent is at rank #23,042, tagged as averb, pronounced \syʁ.vɛj\.
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 60125, this pair ranks #99,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of surveillait vs surveillent
Shared letters: eilrstuv. Private to "surveillait": a. Private to "surveillent": n.
"surveillait" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVVC · "surveillent" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- surveillait ← sruveillait · ssurveillait · surevillait · surrveillait · surveilait · surveilalit · surveillaitt · surveillati
- surveillent ← sruveillent · ssurveillent · surevillent · surrveillent · surveilelnt · surveilent · surveillennt · surveillentt
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "surveillait" and "surveillent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "surveillait" vs "surveillent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "surveillait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "surveillent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #99,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "surveillait" and "surveillent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "surveillait vs surveillante". 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 #99,332 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.