mettantvsmettentTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,725
“mettant” frequency rank
#2,088
“mettent” frequency rank
4813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mettant mettent
Definition Participe présent de mettre. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de mettre.

Where the eye mixes mettant and mettent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
mettant
7 ch
mettent

Look-alike desk: mettant vs mettent

A purely visual mix-up. mettant (\mɛ.tɑ̃\) and mettent (\mɛt\) 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 a single letter - a in “mettant” becomes e in “mettent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mettant is recorded at frequency rank #2,725, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tɑ̃\. mettent is at rank #2,088, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛt\.

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 4813, this pair ranks #430,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mettant vs mettent

Shared letters: emnt. Private to "mettant": a. Private to "mettent": -.

"mettant" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "mettent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mettantemttant · metant · metatnt · mettannt · mettantt · mettatn · mettnat · mmettant
  • mettentemttent · metent · metetnt · mettennt · mettentt · mettetn · mettnet · mmettent

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mettant" for "mettent" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɛ.tɑ̃\ versus \mɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mettant" or "mettent"?
"mettent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,088 in our French list, against #2,725 for "mettant". 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 "mettant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mettent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mettant" and "mettent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mentant vs mettant". 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 #430,624 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