Which to use
“utilisait” and “utilisent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,318
- “utilisait” frequency rank
- #3,425
- “utilisent” frequency rank
- 14743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | utilisait | utilisent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de utiliser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de utiliser. |
Where the eye mixes utilisait and utilisent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between utilisait and utilisent
A purely visual mix-up. utilisait (\y.ti.li.zɛ\) and utilisent (\y.ti.liz\) 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 14743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
utilisait is recorded at frequency rank #11,318, classified as averb, pronounced \y.ti.li.zɛ\. utilisent is at rank #3,425, tagged as averb, pronounced \y.ti.liz\.
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 14743, this pair ranks #395,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of utilisait vs utilisent
Shared letters: ilstu. Private to "utilisait": a. Private to "utilisent": en.
"utilisait" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVVC · "utilisent" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "utilisait" and "utilisent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "utilisait" vs "utilisent" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "utilisait" and "utilisent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "utilisait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "utilisent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #395,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "utilisait" and "utilisent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "utilisa vs utilisait". 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 #395,399 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.