Which to use
“mèche” and “meule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,096
- “mèche” frequency rank
- #29,861
- “meule” frequency rank
- 43957
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mèche | meule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Assemblage de fils de coton, de chanvre, etc., qu’on utilise pour l’éclairage dans les lampes à huile, à pétrole, à essence, etc. | Roue en pierre, en bois, qui sert à broyer en tournant. |
Where the eye mixes mèche and meule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mèche with meule
A purely visual mix-up. mèche (\mɛʃ\) and meule (\møl\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mèche is recorded at frequency rank #14,096, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʃ\. meule is at rank #29,861, tagged as anoun, pronounced \møl\.
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 43957, this pair ranks #214,100 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mèche vs meule
Shared letters: em. Private to "mèche": chè. Private to "meule": lu.
"mèche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "meule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- meule ← emule · melue · meuel · meulle · mmeule · muele
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mèche" for "meule" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "mèche" or "meule" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mèche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,100 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mèche" and "meule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meule vs meutre". 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 #214,100 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.