Which to use
“mares” and “mètres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,698
- “mares” frequency rank
- #1,068
- “mètres” frequency rank
- 31766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mares | mètres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mare. | Pluriel de mètre. |
Where the eye mixes mares and mètres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mares runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against mètres's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: mares vs mètres
A purely visual mix-up. mares (\maʁ\) and mètres (\mɛtʁ\) 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 31766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mares is recorded at frequency rank #30,698, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁ\. mètres is at rank #1,068, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛtʁ\.
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 31766, this pair ranks #301,688 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mares vs mètres
Shared letters: emrs. Private to "mares": a. Private to "mètres": tè.
"mares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mètres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mares ← amres · maers · maress · marres · marse · mmares · mraes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mares" for "mètres" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "mares" or "mètres" show up more?
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 "mares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mètres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,688 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mares" and "mètres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macros vs mares". 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 #301,688 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.