Which to use
“laissant” and “laissent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,012
- “laissant” frequency rank
- #3,934
- “laissent” frequency rank
- 6946
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laissant | laissent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe présent de laisser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de laisser. |
Where the eye mixes laissant and laissent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. laissant and laissent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: laissant vs laissent
A purely visual mix-up. laissant (\lɛ.sɑ̃\) and laissent (\lɛs\) 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 - a in “laissant” becomes e in “laissent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laissant is recorded at frequency rank #3,012, classified as averb, pronounced \lɛ.sɑ̃\. laissent is at rank #3,934, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɛs\.
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 6946, this pair ranks #424,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laissant vs laissent
Shared letters: ailnst. Private to "laissant": -. Private to "laissent": e.
"laissant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "laissent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laissant" for "laissent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "laissant" vs "laissent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "laissant" and "laissent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laissant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laissent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laissant" and "laissent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laissent vs laissèrent". 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 #424,709 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.