construisvsconstruiteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,727
“construis” frequency rank
#5,960
“construite” frequency rank
44687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature construis construite
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de construire. Participe passé féminin singulier de construire.

Where the eye mixes construis and construite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
construis
10 ch
construite

Why the eye confuses construis with construite

A purely visual mix-up. construis (\kɔ̃s.tʁɥi\) and construite (\kɔ̃s.tʁɥit\) 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 44687, 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\. construite is at rank #5,960, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃s.tʁɥit\.

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 44687, this pair ranks #208,597 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of construis vs construite

Shared letters: cinorstu. Private to "construis": -. Private to "construite": e.

"construis" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVVC  ·  "construite" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • construiscconstruis · cnostruis · connstruis · consrtuis · consstruis · constrius · constrruis · construiss
  • construitecconstruite · cnostruite · connstruite · consrtuite · consstruite · constriute · constrruite · construiet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "construis" for "construite" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ̃s.tʁɥi\ versus \kɔ̃s.tʁɥit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "construis" or "construite"?
"construite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,960 in our French list, against #38,727 for "construis". 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 "construis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "construite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #208,597 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "construis" and "construite" 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 #208,597 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