laissaisvslaisseraisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,242
“laissais” frequency rank
#27,863
“laisserais” frequency rank
58105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laissais laisserais
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de laisser. Première personne du singulier du conditionnel présent de laisser.

Where the eye mixes laissais and laisserais

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. laissais runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against laisserais's 10 (CVVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
laissais
10 ch
laisserais

Visual trap between laissais and laisserais

A purely visual mix-up. laissais (\lɛ.sɛ\) and laisserais (\lɛ.sə.ʁɛ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laissais is recorded at frequency rank #30,242, classified as averb, pronounced \lɛ.sɛ\. laisserais is at rank #27,863, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɛ.sə.ʁɛ\.

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 58105, this pair ranks #111,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laissais vs laisserais

Shared letters: ails. Private to "laissais": -. Private to "laisserais": er.

"laissais" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC  ·  "laisserais" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laissais ← alissais · laisais · laisasis · laissaiss · laissasi · laissias · lasisais · liassais
  • laisserais ← alisserais · laiserais · laisesrais · laissearis · laisseraiss · laisserasi · laisserias · laisserrais

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laissais" and "laisserais" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɛ.sɛ\ versus \lɛ.sə.ʁɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "laissais" vs "laisserais" - which ranks higher?
"laisserais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,863 in our French list, against #30,242 for "laissais". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laissais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laisserais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laissais" and "laisserais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laisseraient vs laisserais". 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 #111,000 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