Which to use
“mardis” and “mercis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,035
- “mardis” frequency rank
- #48,043
- “mercis” frequency rank
- 73078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mardis | mercis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mardi. | Pluriel de merci. |
Where the eye mixes mardis and mercis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mardis and mercis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mardis with mercis
A purely visual mix-up. mardis (\maʁ.di\) and mercis (\mɛʁ.si\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mardis is recorded at frequency rank #25,035, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.di\. mercis is at rank #48,043, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ.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 73078, this pair ranks #41,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mardis vs mercis
Shared letters: imrs. Private to "mardis": ad. Private to "mercis": ce.
"mardis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mercis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mardis" for "mercis" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mardis" or "mercis"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mardis" and "mercis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mardis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mercis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,702 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mardis" and "mercis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marcia vs mercis". 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 #41,702 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.