Which to use
“construis” and “construisit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,727
- “construis” frequency rank
- #36,331
- “construisit” frequency rank
- 75058
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | construis | construisit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de construire. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de construire. |
Where the eye mixes construis and construisit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. construis runs 9 letters (CVCCCCVVC) against construisit's 11 (CVCCCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: construis vs construisit
A purely visual mix-up. construis (\kɔ̃s.tʁɥi\) and construisit (\kɔ̃s.tʁɥi.zi\) 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) - “construis” sits inside “construisit”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
construis is recorded at frequency rank #38,727, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃s.tʁɥi\. construisit is at rank #36,331, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃s.tʁɥi.zi\.
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 75058, this pair ranks #35,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of construis vs construisit
Shared letters: cinorstu. Private to "construis": -. Private to "construisit": -.
"construis" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVVC · "construisit" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- construis ← cconstruis · cnostruis · connstruis · consrtuis · consstruis · constrius · constrruis · construiss
- construisit ← cconstruisit · cnostruisit · connstruisit · consrtuisit · consstruisit · constriusit · constrruisit · construiist
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "construis" and "construisit" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "construis" or "construisit" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "construis" and "construisit" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "construis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "construisit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "construis" and "construisit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "construis vs construisez". 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 #35,250 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.