Which to use
“paraisse” and “paraître” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,760
- “paraisse” frequency rank
- #3,700
- “paraître” frequency rank
- 29460
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paraisse | paraître |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de paraître (ou paraitre). | Être exposé à la vue ; se faire ou se laisser voir ; se manifester. |
Where the eye mixes paraisse and paraître
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. paraisse and paraître follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between paraisse and paraître
A purely visual mix-up. paraisse (\pa.ʁɛs\) and paraître (\pa.ʁɛtʁ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29460, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paraisse is recorded at frequency rank #25,760, classified as averb, pronounced \pa.ʁɛs\. paraître is at rank #3,700, tagged as averb, pronounced \pa.ʁɛtʁ\.
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 29460, this pair ranks #316,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paraisse vs paraître
Shared letters: aepr. Private to "paraisse": is. Private to "paraître": tî.
"paraisse" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV · "paraître" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- paraisse ← apraisse · paarisse · paraise · paraises · parasise · pariasse · parraisse · pparaisse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paraisse" for "paraître" ever safe?
Which is more common, "paraisse" or "paraître"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paraisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paraître" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paraisse" and "paraître" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paraisse vs paresse". 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 #316,530 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.