Which to use
“laisser” and “laissez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #583
- “laisser” frequency rank
- #2,319
- “laissez” frequency rank
- 2902
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laisser | laissez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quitter quelqu’un ou quelque chose. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de laisser. |
Where the eye mixes laisser and laissez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses laisser with laissez
A purely visual mix-up. laisser (\le.se\) and laissez (\lɛ.se\) 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 - r in “laisser” becomes z in “laissez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laisser is recorded at frequency rank #583, classified as averb, pronounced \le.se\. laissez is at rank #2,319, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɛ.se\.
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 2902, this pair ranks #435,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laisser vs laissez
Shared letters: aeils. Private to "laisser": r. Private to "laissez": z.
"laisser" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "laissez" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laisser" and "laissez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "laisser" or "laissez"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "laisser" and "laissez" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laisser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laissez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laisser" and "laissez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laisserez vs laissez". 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 #435,240 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.