Which to use
“marbre” and “martyre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,109
- “marbre” frequency rank
- #15,182
- “martyre” frequency rank
- 21291
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marbre | martyre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Toute pierre susceptible d'être polie | Mort ou tourments endurés pour sa religion, sa foi. |
Where the eye mixes marbre and martyre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. marbre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against martyre's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses marbre with martyre
A purely visual mix-up. marbre (\maʁbʁ\) and martyre (\maʁ.tiʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21291, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marbre is recorded at frequency rank #6,109, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁbʁ\. martyre is at rank #15,182, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.tiʁ\.
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 21291, this pair ranks #363,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marbre vs martyre
Shared letters: aemr. Private to "marbre": b. Private to "martyre": ty.
"marbre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "martyre" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "marbre" and "martyre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "marbre" vs "martyre" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "marbre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "martyre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #363,941 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marbre" and "martyre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "martyre vs martyrisé". 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 #363,941 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.