martelvsmarteléWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: martel is a noun, martelé is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“martel” is a noun and “martelé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,728
“martel” frequency rank
#37,914
“martelé” frequency rank
52642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature martel martelé
Definition Variante de marteau. Qualifie une médaille dont on a effacé le revers, qui était commun, pour frapper à la place un revers plus rare

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set martel and martelé apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
martel
7 ch
martelé

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: martel is \maʁ.tɛl\ while martelé is \maʁ.tə.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “martel” sits inside “martelé”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

martel is recorded at frequency rank #14,728, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.tɛl\. martelé is at rank #37,914, tagged as anadj, pronounced \maʁ.tə.le\.

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 52642, this pair ranks #146,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of martel vs martelé

Shared letters: aelmrt. Private to "martel": -. Private to "martelé": é.

"martel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "martelé" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • martelamrtel · maretl · marrtel · martell · martle · marttel · matrel · mmartel

Frequency comparison

martel#14,728
martelé#37,914

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "martel" and "martelé" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "martel" is a noun and "martelé" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "martel" or "martelé"?
"martel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,728 in our French list, against #37,914 for "martelé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering martel vs martelé

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “martel”; for an adjective, it's “martelé”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “martel” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list