Which to use
“finit” and “fist” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,125
- “finit” frequency rank
- #26,368
- “fist” frequency rank
- 28493
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | finit | fist |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de finir. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de fisten. |
Where the eye mixes finit and fist
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses finit with fist
A purely visual mix-up. finit (\fi.ni\) and fist (\fɪst\) 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 28493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
finit is recorded at frequency rank #2,125, classified as averb, pronounced \fi.ni\. fist is at rank #26,368, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɪst\.
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 28493, this pair ranks #322,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of finit vs fist
Shared letters: fit. Private to "finit": n. Private to "fist": s.
"finit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fist" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "finit" and "fist" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "finit" vs "fist" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "finit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #322,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "finit" and "fist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs FIV". 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 #322,431 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.