mercenaire

\mɛʁ.sə.nɛʁ\

/\mɛʁ.sə.nɛʁ\/ adj

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

The verdict

“mercenaire” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #24,283. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#24,283
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dont on trouve commode d’acheter le service, ou l’usage pour une période limitée.

Corpus desk

Index FR-mercenaire · mercenaire · French

mercenaire · rank #24,283 · 14 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #24,283
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH menteuse

Nearest frequency peer: menteuse (-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 « mercenaire »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « mercenaire » 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).

mercenaire vs mercenaires
91% similar

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

Key facts for mercenaire
PropertyValue
Headwordmercenaire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\mɛʁ.sə.nɛʁ\
Letters10
Frequency rank#24,283
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « mercenaire »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).mercenairese 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 « menteuse » (#24,282), « Meredith » (#24,284), « massa » (#24,281). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « mercenaire » est au #24,283. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around mercenaire (IPA \mɛʁ.sə.nɛʁ\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #24,283 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for mercenaire, with forms such as "emrcenaire", "mecrenaire", and "merccenaire". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "mercenaires", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists 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 mercenaire, spelled M-E-R-C-E-N-A-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dont on trouve commode d’acheter le service, ou l’usage pour une période limitée.
  2. 2
    Qualifie les troupes le plus souvent étrangères dont on se sert pour faire la guerre.
  3. 3
    Qui se laisse corrompre du fait de sa cupidité, et à qui on peut faire faire tout ce qu’on veut, en payant ce qu'il faut.
  4. 4
    Qui n’agit que pour un salaire, qui est inspiré par le profit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Je ne souffrirais jamais que des soins mercenaires, qu’une femme ou une fille étrangère s’initiassent (femme littéraire !) aux secrets de ma chambre.
  2. Il est des individus nés mercenaires qui ne font aucun bien à leurs amis ou à leurs proches, parce qu’ils le doivent ; tandis qu’en rendant service à des inconnus, ils en recueillent un gain d’amour-propre : plus le cercle de leurs affections est près d’eux, moins ils aiment ; plus il s’étend, plus serviables ils sont.

This word in other languages

mercenary(English)mercenario(Español)Söldner(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • emrcenaire
  • mecrenaire
  • merccenaire
  • merceanire
  • mercenaier
  • mercenairre
  • mercenarie
  • merceniare
  • mercennaire
  • mercneaire
  • merecnaire
  • merrcenaire
  • mmercenaire
  • mrecenaire

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

emrcenaire2mecrenaire2merccenaire1merceanire2mercenaier2mercenairre1mercenarie2merceniare2
Edit distance from "mercenaire"

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 "mercenaire"?
"mercenaire" is spelled M-E-R-C-E-N-A-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mɛʁ.sə.nɛʁ\.
What does "mercenaire" mean?
As an adjective, "mercenaire" means: Dont on trouve commode d’acheter le service, ou l’usage pour une période limitée.
What words are commonly confused with "mercenaire"?
"mercenaire" is commonly confused with "mercenaires". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mercenaire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mercenaire" is \mɛʁ.sə.nɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mercenaire" come from?
"mercenaire" 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 "mercenaire", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

monastique#24,290mélangeant#24,294lendemains#24,269invocation#24,257

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

insulaires14 variantsinstables14 variantsinquiétait14 variantsparoissiens14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list