permettaitvspromettaitConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,539
“permettait” frequency rank
#22,986
“promettait” frequency rank
29525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature permettait promettait
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de permettre. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de promettre.

Where the eye mixes permettait and promettait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. permettait (CVCCVCCVVC) and promettait (CCVCVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
permettait
10 ch
promettait

Look-alike desk: permettait vs promettait

A purely visual mix-up. permettait (\pɛʁ.mɛ.tɛ\) and promettait (\pʁɔ.mɛ.tɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29525, 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\. promettait is at rank #22,986, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.mɛ.tɛ\.

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 29525, this pair ranks #316,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of permettait vs promettait

Shared letters: aeimprt. Private to "permettait": -. Private to "promettait": o.

"permettait" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "promettait" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • permettaiteprmettait · pemrettait · peremttait · permetait · permetatit · permettaitt · permettati · permettiat
  • promettaitpormettait · ppromettait · prmoettait · proemttait · prometait · prometatit · promettaitt · promettati

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "permettait" and "promettait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pɛʁ.mɛ.tɛ\ versus \pʁɔ.mɛ.tɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "permettait" or "promettait"?
"permettait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,539 in our French list, against #22,986 for "promettait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "permettait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "promettait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #316,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "permettait" and "promettait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "projetait vs promettait". 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 #316,137 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