Which to use
“passait” and “plaisait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,866
- “passait” frequency rank
- #13,659
- “plaisait” frequency rank
- 17525
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passait | plaisait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de passer. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de plaire. |
Where the eye mixes passait and plaisait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. passait runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against plaisait's 8 (CCVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between passait and plaisait
A purely visual mix-up. passait (\pa.sɛ\) and plaisait (\plɛ.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 17525, 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\. plaisait is at rank #13,659, tagged as averb, pronounced \plɛ.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 17525, this pair ranks #382,730 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passait vs plaisait
Shared letters: aipst. Private to "passait": -. Private to "plaisait": l.
"passait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "plaisait" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passait" for "plaisait" ever safe?
Which is more common, "passait" or "plaisait"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "passait" and "plaisait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plaisait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,730 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passait" and "plaisait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plaidant vs plaisait". 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 #382,730 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.