Which to use
“fêtait” and “filait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,313
- “fêtait” frequency rank
- #36,391
- “filait” frequency rank
- 75704
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fêtait | filait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de fêter. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de filer. |
Where the eye mixes fêtait and filait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fêtait and filait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fêtait with filait
A purely visual mix-up. fêtait (\fe.tɛ\) and filait (\fi.lɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fêtait is recorded at frequency rank #39,313, classified as averb, pronounced \fe.tɛ\. filait is at rank #36,391, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi.lɛ\.
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 75704, this pair ranks #33,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fêtait vs filait
Shared letters: afit. Private to "fêtait": ê. Private to "filait": l.
"fêtait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "filait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- filait ← ffilait · fialit · filaitt · filati · filiat · fillait · fliait · iflait
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fêtait" and "filait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fêtait" or "filait" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fêtait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,257 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fêtait" and "filait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fichait vs filait". 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 #33,257 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.