Which to use
“venait” and “vendait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,345
- “venait” frequency rank
- #16,769
- “vendait” frequency rank
- 19114
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | venait | vendait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe venir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de vendre. |
Where the eye mixes venait and vendait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. venait runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against vendait's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses venait with vendait
A purely visual mix-up. venait (\və.nɛ\) and vendait (\vɑ̃.dɛ\) 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 19114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
venait is recorded at frequency rank #2,345, classified as averb, pronounced \və.nɛ\. vendait is at rank #16,769, tagged as averb, pronounced \vɑ̃.dɛ\.
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 19114, this pair ranks #374,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of venait vs vendait
Shared letters: aeintv. Private to "venait": -. Private to "vendait": d.
"venait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "vendait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "venait" for "vendait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "venait" vs "vendait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "venait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vendait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "venait" and "vendait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vendait vs vendrait". 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 #374,942 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.