mêlée

\me.le\

/\me.le\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“mêlée” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #9,703. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,703
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Combat opiniâtre, où deux troupes s’attaquent corps-à-corps et se mêlent.

Corpus desk

Index FR-melee · mêlée · French

mêlée · rank #9,703 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,703
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH nage

Nearest frequency peer: nage (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « mêlée »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « mêlée » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

mêlée vs mle
60% similar
mêlée vs Mère
20% similar
mêlée vs mené
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for mêlée
PropertyValue
Headwordmêlée
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\me.le\
Letters5
Frequency rank#9,703
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « mêlée »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.mêléese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « nage » (#9,704), « mystique » (#9,701), « moulins » (#9,700). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « mêlée » est au #9,703. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around mêlée (IPA \me.le\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,703 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for mêlée, with forms such as "melee", "mlêée", and "mmêlée". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mle", "Mère", "mené", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is mêlée, spelled M-Ê-L-É-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Combat opiniâtre, où deux troupes s’attaquent corps-à-corps et se mêlent.
  2. 2
    Lutte entre plusieurs individus.
  3. 3
    Contestation vive entre plusieurs personnes.
  4. 4
    Guerre.
  5. 5
    Regroupement organisé dans lequel les packs adverses se font face et poussent, arc-boutés, dans le but d’avancer et de récupérer le ballon introduit au sol.
  6. 6
    Ensemble de choses qui se mélangent.
  7. 7
    (Dans les méthodes agiles) Réunion quotidienne courte permettant à une équipe de se mettre à jour sur l’avancée des uns et des autres.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how mêlée appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Deux choses déplurent à Cédric dans ce discours : il contenait le mot normand mêlée, pour exprimer un combat général, et il montrait de l’indifférence pour l’honneur de son pays.
  2. Les mêlées aériennes révélèrent une autre particularité qui eut son contre-coup sur le bouleversement social.

This word in other languages

melee(English)Handgemenge(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • melee
  • mlêée
  • mmêlée
  • mêleé
  • mêllée
  • mêéle
  • êmlée

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mêlée - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

melee2mlêée2mmêlée1mêleé2mêllée1mêéle2êmlée2
Edit distance from "mêlée"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mêlée"?
"mêlée" is spelled M-Ê-L-É-E. The IPA pronunciation is \me.le\.
What does "mêlée" mean?
As a noun, "mêlée" means: Combat opiniâtre, où deux troupes s’attaquent corps-à-corps et se mêlent.
What words are commonly confused with "mêlée"?
"mêlée" is commonly confused with "mle", "Mère", "mené". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mêlée"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mêlée" is \me.le\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mêlée" come from?
"mêlée" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mêlée", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

moule#9,699Nîmes#9,708modem#9,697Palme#9,715

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

parte7 variantsperle7 variantsjouera7 variantsrelire7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list