faisaitvsfixaitConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#671
“faisait” frequency rank
#34,539
“fixait” frequency rank
35210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faisait fixait
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de faire. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de fixer.

Where the eye mixes faisait and fixait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. faisait runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against fixait's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
faisait
6 ch
fixait

Why the eye confuses faisait with fixait

A purely visual mix-up. faisait (\fə.zɛ\) and fixait (\fik.sɛ\) 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 35210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faisait is recorded at frequency rank #671, classified as averb, pronounced \fə.zɛ\. fixait is at rank #34,539, tagged as averb, pronounced \fik.sɛ\.

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 35210, this pair ranks #278,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faisait vs fixait

Shared letters: afit. Private to "faisait": s. Private to "fixait": x.

"faisait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "fixait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faisait ← afisait · faiasit · faisaitt · faisati · faisiat · faissait · fasiait · ffaisait
  • fixait ← ffixait · fiaxit · fixaitt · fixati · fixiat · fixxait · fxiait · ifxait

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faisait" and "fixait" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fə.zɛ\ versus \fik.sɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "faisait" or "fixait"?
"faisait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #671 in our French list, against #34,539 for "fixait". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faisait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fixait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #278,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faisait" and "fixait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fichait vs fixait". 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 #278,371 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