Which to use
“marteau” and “martel” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,423
- “marteau” frequency rank
- #14,728
- “martel” frequency rank
- 23151
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marteau | martel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Outil de fer qui a un manche, ordinairement de bois, et qui est propre à battre, forger, cogner, enfoncer. | Variante de marteau. |
Where the eye mixes marteau and martel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. marteau runs 7 letters (CVCCVVV) against martel's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: marteau vs martel
A purely visual mix-up. marteau (\maʁ.to\) and martel (\maʁ.tɛl\) 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 23151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marteau is recorded at frequency rank #8,423, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.to\. martel is at rank #14,728, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.tɛl\.
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 23151, this pair ranks #354,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marteau vs martel
Shared letters: aemrt. Private to "marteau": u. Private to "martel": l.
"marteau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV · "martel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marteau" for "martel" ever safe?
Frequency check: "marteau" vs "martel" - which ranks higher?
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 "marteau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "martel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #354,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marteau" and "martel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maël vs martel". 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 #354,083 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.