matezvsmêlezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“matez” and “mêlez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,005
“matez” frequency rank
#38,936
“mêlez” frequency rank
81941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature matez mêlez
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mater. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mêler.

Where the eye mixes matez and mêlez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. matez and mêlez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
matez
5 ch
mêlez

Why the eye confuses matez with mêlez

A purely visual mix-up. matez (\ma.te\) and mêlez (\mɛ.le\) 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 81941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

matez is recorded at frequency rank #43,005, classified as averb, pronounced \ma.te\. mêlez is at rank #38,936, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ.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 81941, this pair ranks #17,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of matez vs mêlez

Shared letters: emz. Private to "matez": at. Private to "mêlez": lê.

"matez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mêlez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matez ← amtez · maetz · matezz · mattez · matze · mmatez · mtaez

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "matez" and "mêlez" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ma.te\ versus \mɛ.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "matez" or "mêlez"?
"mêlez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,936 in our French list, against #43,005 for "matez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "matez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mêlez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "matez" and "mêlez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maël vs matez". 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 #17,746 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list