Which to use
“permettez” and “permettre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,438
- “permettez” frequency rank
- #1,121
- “permettre” frequency rank
- 13559
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | permettez | permettre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de permettre. | Donner liberté, pouvoir de faire, de dire. |
Where the eye mixes permettez and permettre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. permettez (CVCCVCCVC) and permettre (CVCCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between permettez and permettre
A purely visual mix-up. permettez (\pɛʁ.mɛ.te\) and permettre (\pɛʁ.mɛtʁ\) 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 13559, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
permettez is recorded at frequency rank #12,438, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.mɛ.te\. permettre is at rank #1,121, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛʁ.mɛtʁ\.
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 13559, this pair ranks #400,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of permettez vs permettre
Shared letters: emprt. Private to "permettez": z. Private to "permettre": -.
"permettez" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "permettre" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "permettez" for "permettre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "permettez" vs "permettre" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "permettez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "permettre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "permettez" and "permettre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permettrai vs permettre". 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 #400,506 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.