Which to use
“plaise” and “plaisent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,217
- “plaise” frequency rank
- #13,660
- “plaisent” frequency rank
- 25877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plaise | plaisent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de plaire. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de plaire. |
Same sound, different letters: plaise vs plaisent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. plaise runs 6 letters (CCVVCV) against plaisent's 8 (CCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: plaise vs plaisent
This is the hard kind. plaise and plaisent are pronounced identically (\plɛz\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “plaise” sits inside “plaisent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plaise is recorded at frequency rank #12,217, classified as averb, pronounced \plɛz\. plaisent is at rank #13,660, tagged as averb, pronounced \plɛz\.
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 25877, this pair ranks #338,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of plaise vs plaisent
Shared letters: aeilps. Private to "plaise": -. Private to "plaisent": nt.
"plaise" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "plaisent" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "plaise" and "plaisent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "plaise" or "plaisent"?
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 "plaise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plaisent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plaise" and "plaisent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plaigne vs plaise". 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 #338,363 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.