lâchaitvslâchentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,887
“lâchait” frequency rank
#21,996
“lâchent” frequency rank
54883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lâchait lâchent
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de lâcher. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de lâcher.

Where the eye mixes lâchait and lâchent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. lâchait (CVCCVVC) and lâchent (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
lâchait
7 ch
lâchent

Visual trap between lâchait and lâchent

A purely visual mix-up. lâchait (\la.ʃɛ\) and lâchent (\laʃ\) 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 54883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lâchait is recorded at frequency rank #32,887, classified as averb, pronounced \la.ʃɛ\. lâchent is at rank #21,996, tagged as averb, pronounced \laʃ\.

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 54883, this pair ranks #131,050 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lâchait vs lâchent

Shared letters: chltâ. Private to "lâchait": ai. Private to "lâchent": en.

"lâchait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "lâchent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lâchait" and "lâchent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\la.ʃɛ\ versus \laʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lâchait" or "lâchent"?
"lâchent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,996 in our French list, against #32,887 for "lâchait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "lâchait" and "lâchent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lâchait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lâchent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #131,050 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lâchait" and "lâchent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lâchait vs lavait". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #131,050 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