Which to use
“laissa” and “laissant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,497
- “laissa” frequency rank
- #3,012
- “laissant” frequency rank
- 17509
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laissa | laissant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de laisser. | Participe présent de laisser. |
Where the eye mixes laissa and laissant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. laissa runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against laissant's 8 (CVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laissa vs laissant
A purely visual mix-up. laissa (\lɛ.sa\) and laissant (\lɛ.sɑ̃\) 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 “laissant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17509, 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\. laissant is at rank #3,012, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɛ.sɑ̃\.
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 17509, this pair ranks #382,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laissa vs laissant
Shared letters: ails. Private to "laissa": -. Private to "laissant": nt.
"laissa" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "laissant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laissa" and "laissant" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "laissa" or "laissant"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "laissa" and "laissant" 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 "laissant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,826 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laissa" and "laissant" 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 #382,826 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.