Which to use
“marmite” and “mérite” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,614
- “marmite” frequency rank
- #1,395
- “mérite” frequency rank
- 24009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marmite | mérite |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Récipient de terre ou de métal, qui peut recevoir un couvercle, et dans lequel on fait bouillir de l'eau, cuire des aliments. | Ce qui rend une personne digne d’estime. |
Where the eye mixes marmite and mérite
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. marmite runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against mérite's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between marmite and mérite
A purely visual mix-up. marmite (\maʁ.mit\) and mérite (\me.ʁit\) 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 24009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marmite is recorded at frequency rank #22,614, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.mit\. mérite is at rank #1,395, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.ʁit\.
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 24009, this pair ranks #349,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marmite vs mérite
Shared letters: eimrt. Private to "marmite": a. Private to "mérite": é.
"marmite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "mérite" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- marmite ← amrmite · mamrite · marimte · marmiet · marmitte · marmmite · marmtie · marrmite
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marmite" for "mérite" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "marmite" or "mérite" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "marmite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mérite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #349,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marmite" and "mérite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marmite vs marmotte". 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 #349,192 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.