MarcyvsmercyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Marcy is a name, mercy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Marcy” is a name and “mercy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,443
“Marcy” frequency rank
#24,673
“mercy” frequency rank
72116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Marcy mercy
Definition Commune située dans le département de l’Aisne, en France. Miséricorde.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Marcy and mercy apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Marcy
5 ch
mercy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Marcy is \maʁ.si\ while mercy is \ˈmɝ.si\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Marcy” becomes e in “mercy”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Marcy is recorded at frequency rank #47,443, classified as aname, pronounced \maʁ.si\. mercy is at rank #24,673, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈmɝ.si\.

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 72116, this pair ranks #45,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Marcy vs mercy

Shared letters: cmry. Private to "Marcy": a. Private to "mercy": e.

"Marcy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mercy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Marcyamrcy · macry · marccy · marcyy · marrcy · maryc · mmarcy · mracy
  • mercyemrcy · mecry · merccy · mercyy · merrcy · meryc · mmercy · mrecy

Frequency comparison

Marcy#47,443
mercy#24,673

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Marcy" and "mercy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Marcy" is a name and "mercy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Marcy" or "mercy"?
"mercy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,673 in our French list, against #47,443 for "Marcy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Marcy vs mercy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Marcy”; for a noun, it's “mercy”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Marcy” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list