Which to use
“mettes” is a noun and “mettiez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,626
- “mettes” frequency rank
- #46,292
- “mettiez” frequency rank
- 80918
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettes | mettiez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mette. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de mettre. |
Where the eye mixes mettes and mettiez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mettes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against mettiez's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mettes with mettiez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mettes is \mɛt\ while mettiez is \mɛ.tje\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mettes is recorded at frequency rank #34,626, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛt\. mettiez is at rank #46,292, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tje\.
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 80918, this pair ranks #19,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mettes vs mettiez
Shared letters: emt. Private to "mettes": s. Private to "mettiez": iz.
"mettes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mettiez" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mettes" for "mettiez" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "mettes" or "mettiez" show up more?
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 "mettes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mettiez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettes" and "mettiez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettiez 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 #19,858 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.