Which to use
“mariner” and “mériter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,616
- “mariner” frequency rank
- #11,260
- “mériter” frequency rank
- 45876
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mariner | mériter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faire cuire du poisson et l’assaisonner de telle sorte qu’il puisse se conserver très longtemps. | Être digne, se rendre digne de. |
Where the eye mixes mariner and mériter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mariner and mériter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: mariner vs mériter
A purely visual mix-up. mariner (\ma.ʁi.ne\) and mériter (\me.ʁi.te\) 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 45876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mariner is recorded at frequency rank #34,616, classified as averb, pronounced \ma.ʁi.ne\. mériter is at rank #11,260, 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 45876, this pair ranks #199,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mariner vs mériter
Shared letters: eimr. Private to "mariner": an. Private to "mériter": té.
"mariner" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "mériter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mariner ← amriner · mairner · marienr · marinerr · marinner · marinre · marnier · marriner
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mariner" for "mériter" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mariner" vs "mériter" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mariner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mériter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #199,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mariner" and "mériter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mariera vs mariner". 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 #199,354 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.