Which to use
“liait” and “lisait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,641
- “liait” frequency rank
- #19,058
- “lisait” frequency rank
- 67699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | liait | lisait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de lier. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de lire. |
Where the eye mixes liait and lisait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. liait runs 5 letters (CVVVC) against lisait's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses liait with lisait
A purely visual mix-up. liait (\ljɛ\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
liait is recorded at frequency rank #48,641, classified as averb, pronounced \ljɛ\. 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 67699, this pair ranks #62,261 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of liait vs lisait
Shared letters: ailt. Private to "liait": -. Private to "lisait": s.
"liait" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "lisait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "liait" and "lisait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "liait" or "lisait"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "liait" 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 #62,261 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "liait" 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 #62,261 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.