mardevsmardisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“marde” and “mardis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,043
“marde” frequency rank
#25,035
“mardis” frequency rank
61078
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marde mardis
Definition Merde. Pluriel de mardi.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
marde
6 ch
mardis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. marde (\maʁd\) and mardis (\maʁ.di\) 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 61078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marde is recorded at frequency rank #36,043, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁd\. mardis is at rank #25,035, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.di\.

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 61078, this pair ranks #94,184 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of marde vs mardis

Shared letters: admr. Private to "marde": e. Private to "mardis": is.

"marde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mardis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mardeamrde · mardde · mared · marrde · mmarde · mrade
  • mardisamrdis · madris · marddis · mardiss · mardsi · marids · marrdis · mmardis

Frequency comparison

marde#36,043
mardis#25,035

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marde" and "mardis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\maʁd\ versus \maʁ.di\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "marde" or "mardis"?
"mardis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,035 in our French list, against #36,043 for "marde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering marde vs mardis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “marde” 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