mettaitvsmettraiWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,631
“mettait” frequency rank
#15,681
“mettrai” frequency rank
22312
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mettait mettrai
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de mettre. Première personne du singulier du futur de mettre.

Where the eye mixes mettait and mettrai

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

7 ch
mettait
7 ch
mettrai

Visual trap between mettait and mettrai

A purely visual mix-up. mettait (\mɛ.tɛ\) and mettrai (\mɛ.tʁe\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mettait is recorded at frequency rank #6,631, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tɛ\. mettrai is at rank #15,681, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tʁe\.

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 22312, this pair ranks #358,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mettait vs mettrai

Shared letters: aeimt. Private to "mettait": -. Private to "mettrai": r.

"mettait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "mettrai" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mettait ← emttait · metait · metatit · mettaitt · mettati · mettiat · mmettait · mtetait
  • mettrai ← emttrai · metrai · metrtai · mettari · mettria · mettrrai · mmettrai · mtetrai

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mettait" and "mettrai" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mɛ.tɛ\ versus \mɛ.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mettait" or "mettrai"?
"mettait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,631 in our French list, against #15,681 for "mettrai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mettait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mettrai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #358,672 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mettait" and "mettrai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettrai 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 #358,672 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