passaitvspesaitWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“passait” and “pesait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,866
“passait” frequency rank
#22,649
“pesait” frequency rank
26515
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passait pesait
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de passer. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de peser.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set passait and pesait apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
passait
6 ch
pesait

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. passait (\pa.sɛ\) and pesait (\pə.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 26515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passait is recorded at frequency rank #3,866, classified as averb, pronounced \pa.sɛ\. pesait is at rank #22,649, tagged as averb, pronounced \pə.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 26515, this pair ranks #334,523 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of passait vs pesait

Shared letters: aipst. Private to "passait": -. Private to "pesait": e.

"passait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "pesait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passaitapssait · pasait · pasasit · passaitt · passati · passiat · ppassait · psasait
  • pesaitepsait · peasit · pesaitt · pesati · pesiat · pessait · ppesait · pseait

Frequency comparison

passait#3,866
pesait#22,649

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "passait" and "pesait" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.sɛ\ versus \pə.zɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "passait" or "pesait"?
"passait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,866 in our French list, against #22,649 for "pesait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering passait vs pesait

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “passait” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list