mettaisvsmettrasConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,417
“mettais” frequency rank
#41,894
“mettras” frequency rank
58311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mettais mettras
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de mettre. Deuxième personne du singulier du futur de mettre.

Where the eye mixes mettais and mettras

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. mettais (CVCCVVC) and mettras (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
mettais
7 ch
mettras

Visual trap between mettais and mettras

A purely visual mix-up. mettais (\mɛ.tɛ\) and mettras (\mɛ.tʁa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58311, 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\. mettras is at rank #41,894, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tʁa\.

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 58311, this pair ranks #109,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mettais vs mettras

Shared letters: aemst. Private to "mettais": i. Private to "mettras": r.

"mettais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "mettras" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mettaisemttais · metais · metatis · mettaiss · mettasi · mettias · mmettais · mtetais
  • mettrasemttras · metras · metrtas · mettars · mettrass · mettrras · mettrsa · mmettras

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mettais" for "mettras" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɛ.tɛ\ versus \mɛ.tʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mettais" or "mettras"?
"mettais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,417 in our French list, against #41,894 for "mettras". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mettais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mettras" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mettais" and "mettras" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettras vs mettrez". 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 #109,828 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