Which to use
“restais” and “restons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,221
- “restais” frequency rank
- #11,654
- “restons” frequency rank
- 42875
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | restais | restons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de rester. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de rester. |
Where the eye mixes restais and restons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between restais and restons
A purely visual mix-up. restais (\ʁɛs.tɛ\) and restons (\ʁɛs.tɔ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
restais is recorded at frequency rank #31,221, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɛs.tɛ\. restons is at rank #11,654, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɛs.tɔ̃\.
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 42875, this pair ranks #222,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of restais vs restons
Shared letters: erst. Private to "restais": ai. Private to "restons": no.
"restais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "restons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "restais" for "restons" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "restais" or "restons" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "restais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "restons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #222,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "restais" and "restons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Resnais vs restais". 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 #222,240 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.