Which to use
“mettaient” and “mettent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,441
- “mettaient” frequency rank
- #2,088
- “mettent” frequency rank
- 17529
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettaient | mettent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de mettre. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de mettre. |
Where the eye mixes mettaient and mettent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mettaient runs 9 letters (CVCCVVVCC) against mettent's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mettaient with mettent
A purely visual mix-up. mettaient (\mɛ.tɛ\) and mettent (\mɛt\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mettaient is recorded at frequency rank #15,441, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tɛ\. mettent is at rank #2,088, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛt\.
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 17529, this pair ranks #382,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mettaient vs mettent
Shared letters: emnt. Private to "mettaient": ai. Private to "mettent": -.
"mettaient" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC · "mettent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mettaient" and "mettent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mettaient" or "mettent"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mettaient" and "mettent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mettaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mettent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettaient" and "mettent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettaient vs montaient". 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 #382,712 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.