mantesvsmenteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mantes is a noun, mente is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mantes” is a noun and “mente” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,689
“mantes” frequency rank
#32,068
“mente” frequency rank
53757
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mantes mente
Definition Pluriel de mante. Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de mentir.

Same sound, different letters: mantes vs mente

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

6 ch
mantes
5 ch
mente

Ear matches; page differs - mantes and mente

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: mantes and mente carry the same recorded pronunciation, \mɑ̃t\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mantes is recorded at frequency rank #21,689, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃t\. mente is at rank #32,068, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɑ̃t\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 53757, this pair ranks #138,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mantes vs mente

Shared letters: emnt. Private to "mantes": as. Private to "mente": -.

"mantes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "mente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mantesamntes · manets · manntes · mantess · mantse · manttes · matnes · mmantes
  • menteemnte · menet · mennte · mentte · metne · mmente · mnete

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mantes" and "mente" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mantes" is a noun and "mente" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "mantes" or "mente" show up more?
"mantes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,689 in our French list, against #32,068 for "mente". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mantes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mantes" and "mente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mente vs meutre". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #138,574 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list