mettentvsmettesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mettent is a verb, mettes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mettent” is a verb and “mettes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,088
“mettent” frequency rank
#34,626
“mettes” frequency rank
36714
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mettent mettes
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de mettre. Pluriel de mette.

Same sound, different letters: mettent vs mettes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. mettent runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against mettes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
mettent
6 ch
mettes

Homophone desk: mettent vs mettes

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: mettent and mettes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \mɛt\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mettent is recorded at frequency rank #2,088, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛt\. mettes is at rank #34,626, tagged as anoun, 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 36714, this pair ranks #267,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mettent vs mettes

Shared letters: emt. Private to "mettent": n. Private to "mettes": s.

"mettent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "mettes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mettent ← emttent · metent · metetnt · mettennt · mettentt · mettetn · mettnet · mmettent
  • mettes ← emttes · metes · metets · mettess · mettse · mmettes · mtetes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mettent" for "mettes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mettent" is a verb and "mettes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mettent" or "mettes"?
"mettent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,088 in our French list, against #34,626 for "mettes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "mettent" / "mettes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mettent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #267,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mettent" and "mettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettes vs muettes". 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 #267,641 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