Français homophones

maire/maires/mer/mers/Mère/mères

"mer" (#657 written frequency) beats "maire" (#1,142) in this 6-word /\mɛʁ\/ cluster. Size rank #20 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Frequency splits the cluster

These 6 spellings keep the same /\mɛʁ\/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "mer" leads at #657, with "maire" trailing at #1,142.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "maire" then splits - "maire" (5 letters) vs "maires" (6).
No shared spelling stem: "maire" is 5 letters, "mer" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "maire" is 5 letters, "mers" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "maire" is 5 letters, "Mère" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "maire" is 5 letters, "mères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "maires" is 6 letters, "mer" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "maires" is 6 letters, "mers" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "maires" is 6 letters, "Mère" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "maires" is 6 letters, "mères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "mer" then splits - "mer" (3 letters) vs "mers" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "mer" is 3 letters, "Mère" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "mer" is 3 letters, "mères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "mers" is 4 letters, "Mère" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "mers" is 4 letters, "mères" is 5; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "mère" then splits - "Mère" (4 letters) vs "mères" (5).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across maire, maires, mer, mers, Mère, mères: emr. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

maire
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVCV
Inventory aeimr · private ai
maires
6 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVCVC
Inventory aeimrs · private ais
mer
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory emr · no private letters vs siblings
mers
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory emrs · private s
Mère
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCV
Inventory emrè · private è
mères
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory emrsè · private sè

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "maire" when you mean: Premier officier municipal d’une commune, municipalité ou arrondissement, élu, en France, par les conseillers municipaux à l’issue des él…
Write "maires" when you mean: Pluriel de maire.
Write "mer" when you mean: Vaste étendue d’eau salée qui baigne les diverses parties de la terre.
Write "mers" when you mean: Pluriel de mer.
Write "Mère" when you mean: Nom donné à la Vierge Marie.
Write "mères" when you mean: Pluriel de mère.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

maire ← amire · maier · mairre · marie · miare · mmaire
maires ← amires · maiers · mairess · mairres · mairse · maries
mers ← emrs · merrs · merss · mesr · mmers · mres

Each spelling

maire

noun · /\mɛʁ\/ · #1,142 frequency

Premier officier municipal d’une commune, municipalité ou arrondissement, élu, en France, par les conseillers municipaux à l’issue des élections municipales, en Suisse, soit directement par le corps électoral (Jura), soit chaque année pour une année par le conseil municipal (Genève).

maires

noun · /\mɛʁ\/ · #5,362 frequency

Pluriel de maire.

mer

noun · /\mɛʁ\/ · #657 frequency

Vaste étendue d’eau salée qui baigne les diverses parties de la terre.

mers

noun · /\mɛʁ\/ · #8,271 frequency

Pluriel de mer.

Mère

/\mɛʁ\/

Nom donné à la Vierge Marie.