choisissaitvschoisissantWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“choisissait” and “choisissant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,179
“choisissait” frequency rank
#15,834
“choisissant” frequency rank
56013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature choisissait choisissant
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de choisir. Participe présent de choisir.

Where the eye mixes choisissait and choisissant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. choisissait (CCVVCVCCVVC) and choisissant (CCVVCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
choisissait
11 ch
choisissant

Why the eye confuses choisissait with choisissant

A purely visual mix-up. choisissait (\ʃwa.zi.sɛ\) and choisissant (\ʃwa.zi.sɑ̃\) 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 a single letter - i in “choisissait” becomes n in “choisissant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

choisissait is recorded at frequency rank #40,179, classified as averb, pronounced \ʃwa.zi.sɛ\. choisissant is at rank #15,834, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʃwa.zi.sɑ̃\.

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 56013, this pair ranks #123,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of choisissait vs choisissant

Shared letters: achiost. Private to "choisissait": -. Private to "choisissant": n.

"choisissait" · 11 letters · shape CCVVCVCCVVC  ·  "choisissant" · 11 letters · shape CCVVCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • choisissait ← cchoisissait · chhoisissait · chiosissait · choiisssait · choisisait · choisisasit · choisissaitt · choisissati
  • choisissant ← cchoisissant · chhoisissant · chiosissant · choiisssant · choisisant · choisisasnt · choisissannt · choisissantt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "choisissait" and "choisissant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʃwa.zi.sɛ\ versus \ʃwa.zi.sɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "choisissait" or "choisissant"?
"choisissant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,834 in our French list, against #40,179 for "choisissait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "choisissait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "choisissant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "choisissait" and "choisissant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "choisirait vs choisissait". 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 #123,770 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list