Which to use
“mèches” and “mythes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,508
- “mèches” frequency rank
- #11,810
- “mythes” frequency rank
- 32318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mèches | mythes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mèche. | Pluriel de mythe. |
Where the eye mixes mèches and mythes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mèches and mythes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between mèches and mythes
A purely visual mix-up. mèches (\mɛʃ\) and mythes (\mit\) 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 32318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mèches is recorded at frequency rank #20,508, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʃ\. mythes is at rank #11,810, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mit\.
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 32318, this pair ranks #298,047 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mèches vs mythes
Shared letters: ehms. Private to "mèches": cè. Private to "mythes": ty.
"mèches" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mythes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mythes ← mmythes · mtyhes · myhtes · mytehs · mythess · mythhes · mythse · mytthes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mèches" for "mythes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mèches" vs "mythes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mèches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mythes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #298,047 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mèches" and "mythes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mottes vs mythes". 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 #298,047 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.