Which to use
“suspend” and “suspendre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,884
- “suspend” frequency rank
- #10,793
- “suspendre” frequency rank
- 29677
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suspend | suspendre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de suspendre. | Pendre quelqu'objet en l’air, l’attacher de telle sorte qu’il ne porte sur rien. |
Where the eye mixes suspend and suspendre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. suspend runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against suspendre's 9 (CVCCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses suspend with suspendre
A purely visual mix-up. suspend (\sys.pɑ̃\) and suspendre (\sys.pɑ̃dʁ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “suspend” sits inside “suspendre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suspend is recorded at frequency rank #18,884, classified as averb, pronounced \sys.pɑ̃\. suspendre is at rank #10,793, tagged as averb, pronounced \sys.pɑ̃dʁ\.
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 29677, this pair ranks #315,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of suspend vs suspendre
Shared letters: denpsu. Private to "suspend": -. Private to "suspendre": r.
"suspend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "suspendre" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "suspend" for "suspendre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "suspend" vs "suspendre" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "suspend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suspendre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suspend" and "suspendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suspend vs suspendus". 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 #315,183 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.