Which to use
“finish” is a noun and “finisse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,946
- “finish” frequency rank
- #10,872
- “finisse” frequency rank
- 46818
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | finish | finisse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Moment ultime d'une compétition sportive, où se décide la victoire. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de finir. |
Where the eye mixes finish and finisse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: finish vs finisse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: finish is \fi.niʃ\ while finisse is \fi.nis\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
finish is recorded at frequency rank #35,946, classified as anoun, pronounced \fi.niʃ\. finisse is at rank #10,872, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi.nis\.
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 46818, this pair ranks #191,835 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of finish vs finisse
Shared letters: fins. Private to "finish": h. Private to "finisse": e.
"finish" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "finisse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "finish" and "finisse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "finish" vs "finisse" - which ranks higher?
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 "finish" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "finisse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #191,835 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "finish" and "finisse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "finch vs finish". 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 #191,835 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.