Which to use
“mettais” and “mettrais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,417
- “mettais” frequency rank
- #14,980
- “mettrais” frequency rank
- 31397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettais | mettrais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de mettre. | Première personne du singulier du conditionnel de mettre. |
Where the eye mixes mettais and mettrais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mettais runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against mettrais's 8 (CVCCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mettais with mettrais
A purely visual mix-up. mettais (\mɛ.tɛ\) and mettrais (\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 31397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mettais is recorded at frequency rank #16,417, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tɛ\. mettrais is at rank #14,980, 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 31397, this pair ranks #304,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mettais vs mettrais
Shared letters: aeimst. Private to "mettais": -. Private to "mettrais": r.
"mettais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "mettrais" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mettais" and "mettrais" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mettais" vs "mettrais" - which ranks higher?
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 "mettais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mettrais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #304,039 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettais" and "mettrais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettais vs montais". 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 #304,039 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.