Which to use
“martyr” and “martyre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,419
- “martyr” frequency rank
- #15,182
- “martyre” frequency rank
- 27601
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | martyr | martyre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui se laisse tuer (et souvent torturer) pour porter témoignage d'une foi chrétienne inébranlable. | Mort ou tourments endurés pour sa religion, sa foi. |
Same sound, different letters: martyr vs martyre
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. martyr runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against martyre's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - martyr and martyre
This is the hard kind. martyr and martyre are pronounced identically (\maʁ.tiʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “martyr” sits inside “martyre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27601, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
martyr is recorded at frequency rank #12,419, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.tiʁ\. martyre is at rank #15,182, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.tiʁ\.
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 27601, this pair ranks #327,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of martyr vs martyre
Shared letters: amrty. Private to "martyr": -. Private to "martyre": e.
"martyr" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "martyre" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "martyr" and "martyre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "martyr" or "martyre"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "martyr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "martyre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,970 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "martyr" and "martyre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "martyre vs martyrisé". 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 #327,970 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.