finissentvsfinissonsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,299
“finissent” frequency rank
#42,878
“finissons” frequency rank
49177
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature finissent finissons
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de finir. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de finir.

Where the eye mixes finissent and finissons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. finissent and finissons follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
finissent
9 ch
finissons

Look-alike desk: finissent vs finissons

A purely visual mix-up. finissent (\fi.nis\) and finissons (\fi.ni.sɔ̃\) 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 49177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

finissent is recorded at frequency rank #6,299, classified as averb, pronounced \fi.nis\. finissons is at rank #42,878, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi.ni.sɔ̃\.

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 49177, this pair ranks #172,813 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of finissent vs finissons

Shared letters: fins. Private to "finissent": et. Private to "finissons": o.

"finissent" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC  ·  "finissons" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • finissentffinissent · fiinssent · finisent · finisesnt · finissennt · finissentt · finissetn · finissnet
  • finissonsffinissons · fiinssons · finisons · finisosns · finissnos · finissonns · finissonss · finissosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "finissent" and "finissons" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fi.nis\ versus \fi.ni.sɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "finissent" or "finissons"?
"finissent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,299 in our French list, against #42,878 for "finissons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "finissent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "finissons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #172,813 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "finissent" and "finissons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "finissais vs finissons". 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 #172,813 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