Which to use
“mari” and “mer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,335
- “mari” frequency rank
- #657
- “mer” frequency rank
- 1992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mari | mer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Homme uni à une autre personne par les liens du mariage, époux. | Vaste étendue d’eau salée qui baigne les diverses parties de la terre. |
Where the eye mixes mari and mer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mari and mer
A purely visual mix-up. mari (\ma.ʁi\) and mer (\mɛʁ\) 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 1992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mari is recorded at frequency rank #1,335, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʁi\. mer is at rank #657, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\.
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 1992, this pair ranks #436,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mari vs mer
Shared letters: mr. Private to "mari": ai. Private to "mer": e.
"mari" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mari ← amri · mair · marri · mmari · mrai
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mari" and "mer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mari" or "mer"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mari" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mari" and "mer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs mari". 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 #436,989 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.