mépris
\me.pʁi\
The verdict
“mépris” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #4,964 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,964
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Sentiment par lequel on juge une personne ou une chose indigne d’estime, d’égards, d’attention.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mépris |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \me.pʁi\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #4,964 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mépris” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for mépris is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \me.pʁi\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,964 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for mépris, with forms such as "mepris", "mmépris", and "mpéris". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "mers", "mères", "meurs", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is mépris, spelled M-É-P-R-I-S.
Definition
- 1Sentiment par lequel on juge une personne ou une chose indigne d’estime, d’égards, d’attention.
- 2Sentiment par lequel on s’élève au-dessus de l’amour de la vie, de la crainte de la mort, du danger.
- 3Paroles ou actes de mépris.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mepris,mmépris,mpéris,mépirs,méppris,mépriss,méprris,méprsi,mérpis,émpris
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mépris - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "mépris"?
What does "mépris" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "mépris"?
How do you pronounce "mépris"?
What language does "mépris" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “mépris”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is M-É-P-R-I-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \me.pʁi\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mers” - see the side-by-side comparison. mépris vs mers
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.