habitevshabiterConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,007
“habite” frequency rank
#7,969
“habiter” frequency rank
10976
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature habite habiter
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de habiter. Faire sa demeure, son séjour quelque part ; y vivre d’habitude.

Where the eye mixes habite and habiter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
habite
7 ch
habiter

Look-alike desk: habite vs habiter

A purely visual mix-up. habite (\a.bit\) and habiter (^((h muet))\a.bi.te\) 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 extra letter(s) - “habite” sits inside “habiter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

habite is recorded at frequency rank #3,007, classified as averb, pronounced \a.bit\. habiter is at rank #7,969, tagged as averb, pronounced ^((h muet))\a.bi.te\.

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 10976, this pair ranks #410,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of habite vs habiter

Shared letters: abehit. Private to "habite": -. Private to "habiter": r.

"habite" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "habiter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • habiteahbite · habbite · habiet · habitte · habtie · haibte · hbaite · hhabite
  • habiterahbiter · habbiter · habietr · habiterr · habitre · habitter · habtier · haibter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "habite" and "habiter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\a.bit\ versus ^((h muet))\a.bi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "habite" vs "habiter" - which ranks higher?
"habite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,007 in our French list, against #7,969 for "habiter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "habite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "habiter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #410,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "habite" and "habiter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "habiter vs hâter". 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 #410,942 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