Which to use
“mettaient” and “mettraient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,441
- “mettaient” frequency rank
- #35,157
- “mettraient” frequency rank
- 50598
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettaient | mettraient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de mettre. | Troisième personne du pluriel du conditionnel de mettre. |
Where the eye mixes mettaient and mettraient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mettaient vs mettraient
A purely visual mix-up. mettaient (\mɛ.tɛ\) and mettraient (\mɛ.tʁɛ\) 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 50598, 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\. mettraient is at rank #35,157, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tʁɛ\.
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 50598, this pair ranks #161,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mettaient vs mettraient
Shared letters: aeimnt. Private to "mettaient": -. Private to "mettraient": r.
"mettaient" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC · "mettraient" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mettaient ← emttaient · metaient · metatient · mettaeint · mettaiennt · mettaientt · mettaietn · mettainet
- mettraient ← emttraient · metraient · metrtaient · mettarient · mettraeint · mettraiennt · mettraientt · mettraietn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mettaient" for "mettraient" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mettaient" or "mettraient"?
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 "mettaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mettraient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #161,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettaient" and "mettraient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettraient vs montraient". 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 #161,406 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.