Which to use
“allai” and “allait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,638
- “allai” frequency rank
- #1,053
- “allait” frequency rank
- 39691
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | allai | allait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne de l’indicatif passé simple du verbe aller. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe aller. |
Where the eye mixes allai and allait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. allai runs 5 letters (VCCVV) against allait's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between allai and allait
A purely visual mix-up. allai (\a.le\) and allait (\a.lɛ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “allai” sits inside “allait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
allai is recorded at frequency rank #38,638, classified as averb, pronounced \a.le\. allait is at rank #1,053, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.lɛ\.
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 39691, this pair ranks #246,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of allai vs allait
Shared letters: ail. Private to "allai": -. Private to "allait": t.
"allai" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "allait" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "allai" and "allait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "allai" or "allait"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "allai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #246,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "allai" and "allait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "allai vs allain". 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 #246,109 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.