Which to use
“mécène” and “mécènes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,807
- “mécène” frequency rank
- #32,923
- “mécènes” frequency rank
- 59730
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mécène | mécènes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui encourage par ses libéralités les sciences, les lettres et les arts. | Pluriel de mécène. |
Same sound, different letters: mécène vs mécènes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - mécène and mécènes
This is the hard kind. mécène and mécènes are pronounced identically (\me.sɛn\) 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) - “mécène” sits inside “mécènes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mécène is recorded at frequency rank #26,807, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.sɛn\. mécènes is at rank #32,923, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.sɛn\.
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 59730, this pair ranks #101,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mécène vs mécènes
Shared letters: cemnèé. Private to "mécène": -. Private to "mécènes": s.
"mécène" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "mécènes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mécène" for "mécènes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mécène" vs "mécènes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"mécène" and "mécènes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "mécène" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mécènes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #101,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mécène" and "mécènes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mécène vs Médée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #101,487 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.