Which to use
“parlais” and “parlait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,596
- “parlais” frequency rank
- #2,946
- “parlait” frequency rank
- 7542
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | parlais | parlait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de parler. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de parler. |
Same sound, different letters: parlais vs parlait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Homophone desk: parlais vs parlait
This is the hard kind. parlais and parlait are pronounced identically (\paʁ.lɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - s in “parlais” becomes t in “parlait”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
parlais is recorded at frequency rank #4,596, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.lɛ\. parlait is at rank #2,946, tagged as averb, pronounced \paʁ.lɛ\.
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 7542, this pair ranks #422,866 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of parlais vs parlait
Shared letters: ailpr. Private to "parlais": s. Private to "parlait": t.
"parlais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "parlait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "parlais" and "parlait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "parlais" or "parlait" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "parlais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "parlait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,866 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "parlais" and "parlait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parias vs parlais". 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 #422,866 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.