Which to use
“mettait” and “mettrais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,631
- “mettait” frequency rank
- #14,980
- “mettrais” frequency rank
- 21611
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettait | mettrais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de mettre. | Première personne du singulier du conditionnel de mettre. |
Where the eye mixes mettait and mettrais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. mettait 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 mettait with mettrais
A purely visual mix-up. mettait (\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 21611, 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\. 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 21611, this pair ranks #362,278 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mettait vs mettrais
Shared letters: aeimt. Private to "mettait": -. Private to "mettrais": rs.
"mettait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "mettrais" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mettait" for "mettrais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mettait" vs "mettrais" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mettait" and "mettrais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mettait" 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 #362,278 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettait" and "mettrais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettrais vs mettras". 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 #362,278 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.