sautaitvssavaitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,529
“sautait” frequency rank
#2,249
“savait” frequency rank
43778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sautait savait
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de sauter. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de savoir.

Where the eye mixes sautait and savait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sautait runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against savait's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
sautait
6 ch
savait

Visual trap between sautait and savait

A purely visual mix-up. sautait (\so.tɛ\) and savait (\sa.vɛ\) 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 43778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sautait is recorded at frequency rank #41,529, classified as averb, pronounced \so.tɛ\. savait is at rank #2,249, tagged as averb, pronounced \sa.vɛ\.

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 43778, this pair ranks #215,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sautait vs savait

Shared letters: aist. Private to "sautait": u. Private to "savait": v.

"sautait" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "savait" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sautait ← asutait · satuait · sauatit · sautaitt · sautati · sautiat · sauttait · ssautait
  • savait ← asvait · saavit · savaitt · savati · saviat · savvait · ssavait · svaait

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sautait" and "savait" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\so.tɛ\ versus \sa.vɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sautait" or "savait"?
"savait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,249 in our French list, against #41,529 for "sautait". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sautait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "savait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sautait" and "savait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sauta vs sautait". 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 #215,479 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list