Which to use
“lavait” and “lisait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,763
- “lavait” frequency rank
- #19,058
- “lisait” frequency rank
- 68821
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lavait | lisait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de laver. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de lire. |
Where the eye mixes lavait and lisait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lavait and lisait follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses lavait with lisait
A purely visual mix-up. lavait (\la.vɛ\) and lisait (\li.zɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lavait is recorded at frequency rank #49,763, classified as averb, pronounced \la.vɛ\. lisait is at rank #19,058, tagged as averb, pronounced \li.zɛ\.
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 68821, this pair ranks #57,556 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lavait vs lisait
Shared letters: ailt. Private to "lavait": v. Private to "lisait": s.
"lavait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "lisait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lavait" and "lisait" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lavait" or "lisait"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lavait" and "lisait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lavait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lisait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,556 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lavait" and "lisait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lavait vs liait". 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 #57,556 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.