Which to use
“mettais” and “mettrait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,417
- “mettais” frequency rank
- #12,813
- “mettrait” frequency rank
- 29230
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettais | mettrait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de mettre. | Troisième personne du singulier du conditionnel de mettre. |
Where the eye mixes mettais and mettrait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. mettais runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against mettrait'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 mettrait
A purely visual mix-up. mettais (\mɛ.tɛ\) and mettrait (\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 29230, 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\. mettrait is at rank #12,813, 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 29230, this pair ranks #317,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mettais vs mettrait
Shared letters: aeimt. Private to "mettais": s. Private to "mettrait": r.
"mettais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "mettrait" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mettais" and "mettrait" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mettais" vs "mettrait" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mettais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mettrait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettais" and "mettrait" 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 #317,947 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.