mental

\mɑ̃.tal\

/\mɑ̃.tal\/ adj

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

The verdict

“mental” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #5,675. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,675
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui se fait, qui s’exécute dans l’esprit, dans l’entendement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-mental · mental · French

mental · rank #5,675 · 9 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,675
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH matches

Nearest frequency peer: matches (-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 « mental »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « mental » 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).

mental vs meta
67% similar
mental vs menti
67% similar
mental vs metal
83% similar

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

Key facts for mental
PropertyValue
Headwordmental
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\mɑ̃.tal\
Letters6
Frequency rank#5,675
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « mental »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).mentalse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « matches » (#5,674), « Miami » (#5,676), « lourds » (#5,673). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « mental » est au #5,675. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around mental (IPA \mɑ̃.tal\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #5,675 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for mental, with forms such as "emntal", "menatl", and "menntal". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "meta", "menti", "metal", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is mental, spelled M-E-N-T-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui se fait, qui s’exécute dans l’esprit, dans l’entendement.
  2. 2
    Relatif à l’entendement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Et il s’abîma en des recherches mentales, évidemment compliquées et très pénibles, s’il fallait en juger par les diverses grimaces qui se succédèrent sur son visage.
  2. Le libéralisme et l’expérimentation sexuelle ne sont que la partie la plus distrayante d'une transformation mentale plus vaste. Sans être obligatoirement la plus importante.

Synonyms

intellectuel

This word in other languages

mental(English)mental(Español)geistig(Deutsch)engraçado(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • emntal
  • menatl
  • menntal
  • mentall
  • mentla
  • menttal
  • metnal
  • mmental
  • mnetal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

emntal2menatl2menntal1mentall1mentla2menttal1metnal2mmental1
Edit distance from "mental"

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 "mental"?
"mental" is spelled M-E-N-T-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \mɑ̃.tal\.
What does "mental" mean?
As an adjective, "mental" means: Qui se fait, qui s’exécute dans l’esprit, dans l’entendement.
What words are commonly confused with "mental"?
"mental" is commonly confused with "meta", "menti", "metal". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mental"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mental" is \mɑ̃.tal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mental" come from?
"mental" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "mental", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

lourds#5,673Naples#5,679jouant#5,670gamins#5,662

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Mohamed9 variantsouvrier9 variantsfermes9 variantscorrect9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list