Which to use
“laissait” and “laissant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,260
- “laissait” frequency rank
- #3,012
- “laissant” frequency rank
- 11272
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laissait | laissant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de laisser. | Participe présent de laisser. |
Where the eye mixes laissait and laissant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. laissait (CVVCCVVC) and laissant (CVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between laissait and laissant
A purely visual mix-up. laissait (\lɛ.sɛ\) 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 a single letter - i in “laissait” becomes n in “laissant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laissait is recorded at frequency rank #8,260, classified as averb, pronounced \lɛ.sɛ\. 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 11272, this pair ranks #409,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laissait vs laissant
Shared letters: ailst. Private to "laissait": -. Private to "laissant": n.
"laissait" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "laissant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laissait" and "laissant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "laissait" vs "laissant" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "laissait" 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 #409,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laissait" and "laissant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laissant vs luisant". 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 #409,763 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.