Which to use
“allait” and “allaiter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,053
- “allait” frequency rank
- #30,891
- “allaiter” frequency rank
- 31944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | allait | allaiter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe aller. | Nourrir de son lait. |
Where the eye mixes allait and allaiter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. allait runs 6 letters (VCCVVC) against allaiter's 8 (VCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between allait and allaiter
A purely visual mix-up. allait (\a.lɛ\) and allaiter (\a.le.te\) 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) - “allait” sits inside “allaiter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
allait is recorded at frequency rank #1,053, classified as averb, pronounced \a.lɛ\. allaiter is at rank #30,891, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.le.te\.
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 31944, this pair ranks #300,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of allait vs allaiter
Shared letters: ailt. Private to "allait": -. Private to "allaiter": er.
"allait" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC · "allaiter" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "allait" for "allaiter" ever safe?
Frequency check: "allait" vs "allaiter" - 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 "allait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allaiter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,581 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "allait" and "allaiter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "allain vs allait". 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 #300,581 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.