Which to use
“construisait” and “construisit” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,394
- “construisait” frequency rank
- #36,331
- “construisit” frequency rank
- 80725
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | construisait | construisit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de construire. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de construire. |
Where the eye mixes construisait and construisit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses construisait with construisit
A purely visual mix-up. construisait (\kɔ̃s.tʁɥi.zɛ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80725, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
construisait is recorded at frequency rank #44,394, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃s.tʁɥi.zɛ\. 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 80725, this pair ranks #20,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of construisait vs construisit
Shared letters: cinorstu. Private to "construisait": a. Private to "construisit": -.
"construisait" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCVVCVVC · "construisit" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- construisait ← cconstruisait · cnostruisait · connstruisait · consrtuisait · consstruisait · constriusait · constrruisait · construiasit
- construisit ← cconstruisit · cnostruisit · connstruisit · consrtuisit · consstruisit · constriusit · constrruisit · construiist
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "construisait" and "construisit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "construisait" vs "construisit" - which ranks higher?
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 "construisait" 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 #20,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "construisait" and "construisit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "construisez vs construisit". 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 #20,297 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.