mètre
\mɛtʁ\
The verdict
“mètre” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #6,113 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,113
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Unité de mesure de longueur du Système international, dont le symbole est m. Le mètre est défini de manière universelle depuis 1983 par la longueur du trajet parcouru par la lumière dans le vide en...
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 | mètre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \mɛtʁ\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,113 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mètre” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for mètre is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \mɛtʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #6,113 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for mètre, with forms such as "mmètre", "mtère", and "mèrte". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mets", "Metz", "more", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, 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 mètre, spelled M-È-T-R-E.
Definition
- 1Unité de mesure de longueur du Système international, dont le symbole est m. Le mètre est défini de manière universelle depuis 1983 par la longueur du trajet parcouru par la lumière dans le vide en 1/299 792 458 de seconde.
- 2Instrument qui permet de mesurer cette longueur.
- 3Mètre carré.
- 4Mètre cube.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmètre,mtère,mèrte,mèter,mètrre,mèttre,èmtre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mètre - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "mètre"?
What does "mètre" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "mètre"?
How do you pronounce "mètre"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “mètre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is M-È-T-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \mɛtʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mets” - see the side-by-side comparison. mètre vs mets
- 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.