Which to use
“faisaient” and “faisant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,137
- “faisaient” frequency rank
- #821
- “faisant” frequency rank
- 3958
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faisaient | faisant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de faire. | Participe présent du verbe faire. |
Where the eye mixes faisaient and faisant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. faisaient runs 9 letters (CVVCVVVCC) against faisant's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses faisaient with faisant
A purely visual mix-up. faisaient (\fə.zɛ\) and faisant (\fə.zɑ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faisaient is recorded at frequency rank #3,137, classified as averb, pronounced \fə.zɛ\. faisant is at rank #821, tagged as averb, pronounced \fə.zɑ̃\.
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 3958, this pair ranks #432,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faisaient vs faisant
Shared letters: afinst. Private to "faisaient": e. Private to "faisant": -.
"faisaient" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVVCC · "faisant" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "faisaient" and "faisant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "faisaient" or "faisant"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "faisaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faisant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faisaient" and "faisant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faisans vs faisant". 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 #432,803 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.