Which to use
“mariée” is a noun and “méritée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,162
- “mariée” frequency rank
- #18,805
- “méritée” frequency rank
- 22967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mariée | méritée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme qui se marie ou qui s’est mariée le jour même. | Participe passé féminin singulier de mériter. |
Where the eye mixes mariée and méritée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mariée runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against méritée's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mariée and méritée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mariée is \ma.ʁje\ while méritée is \me.ʁi.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mariée is recorded at frequency rank #4,162, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʁje\. méritée is at rank #18,805, tagged as averb, pronounced \me.ʁi.te\.
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 22967, this pair ranks #355,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mariée vs méritée
Shared letters: eimré. Private to "mariée": a. Private to "méritée": t.
"mariée" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV · "méritée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mariée" and "méritée" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "mariée" or "méritée" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mariée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "méritée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #355,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mariée" and "méritée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "méritée vs méritées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #355,120 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.