promettaitvspromettantWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,986
“promettait” frequency rank
#17,236
“promettant” frequency rank
40222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature promettait promettant
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de promettre. Participe présent de promettre.

Where the eye mixes promettait and promettant

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

10 ch
promettait
10 ch
promettant

Look-alike desk: promettait vs promettant

A purely visual mix-up. promettait (\pʁɔ.mɛ.tɛ\) and promettant (\pʁɔ.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 “promettait” becomes n in “promettant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

promettait is recorded at frequency rank #22,986, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.mɛ.tɛ\. promettant is at rank #17,236, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁɔ.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 40222, this pair ranks #242,119 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of promettait vs promettant

Shared letters: aemoprt. Private to "promettait": i. Private to "promettant": n.

"promettait" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVVC  ·  "promettant" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • promettaitpormettait · ppromettait · prmoettait · proemttait · prometait · prometatit · promettaitt · promettati
  • promettantpormettant · ppromettant · prmoettant · proemttant · prometant · prometatnt · promettannt · promettantt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "promettait" and "promettant" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɔ.mɛ.tɛ\ versus \pʁɔ.mɛ.tɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "promettait" or "promettant" show up more?
"promettant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,236 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "promettait" and "promettant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "promettait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "promettant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,119 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "promettait" and "promettant" 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 #242,119 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