Which to use
“permettait” and “permettant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,539
- “permettait” frequency rank
- #1,711
- “permettant” frequency rank
- 8250
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | permettait | permettant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de permettre. | Participe présent de permettre. |
Where the eye mixes permettait and permettant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. permettait (CVCCVCCVVC) and permettant (CVCCVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses permettait with permettant
A purely visual mix-up. permettait (\pɛʁ.mɛ.tɛ\) and permettant (\pɛʁ.mɛ.tɑ̃\) 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 - i in “permettait” becomes n in “permettant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8250, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
permettait is recorded at frequency rank #6,539, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.mɛ.tɛ\. permettant is at rank #1,711, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.mɛ.tɑ̃\.
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 8250, this pair ranks #420,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of permettait vs permettant
Shared letters: aemprt. Private to "permettait": i. Private to "permettant": n.
"permettait" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "permettant" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- permettait ← eprmettait · pemrettait · peremttait · permetait · permetatit · permettaitt · permettati · permettiat
- permettant ← eprmettant · pemrettant · peremttant · permetant · permetatnt · permettannt · permettantt · permettatn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "permettait" for "permettant" ever safe?
Which is more common, "permettait" or "permettant"?
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 "permettait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "permettant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "permettait" and "permettant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permettait vs permettrais". 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 #420,665 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.