Which to use
“laissa” and “laissait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,497
- “laissa” frequency rank
- #8,260
- “laissait” frequency rank
- 22757
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laissa | laissait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de laisser. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de laisser. |
Where the eye mixes laissa and laissait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. laissa runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against laissait's 8 (CVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between laissa and laissait
A purely visual mix-up. laissa (\lɛ.sa\) and laissait (\lɛ.sɛ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “laissa” sits inside “laissait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laissa is recorded at frequency rank #14,497, classified as averb, pronounced \lɛ.sa\. laissait is at rank #8,260, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɛ.sɛ\.
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 22757, this pair ranks #356,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laissa vs laissait
Shared letters: ails. Private to "laissa": -. Private to "laissait": t.
"laissa" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "laissait" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laissa" and "laissait" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "laissa" vs "laissait" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "laissa" and "laissait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laissa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laissait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laissa" and "laissait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laissa vs Larissa". 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 #356,319 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.