méditervsméritezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,448
“méditer” frequency rank
#19,348
“méritez” frequency rank
34796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature méditer méritez
Definition Réfléchir sur quelque chose, l’examiner mûrement, de manière à l’approfondir. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mériter.

Where the eye mixes méditer and méritez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. méditer and méritez follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
méditer
7 ch
méritez

Look-alike desk: méditer vs méritez

A purely visual mix-up. méditer (\me.di.te\) and méritez (\me.ʁi.te\) 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 34796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

méditer is recorded at frequency rank #15,448, classified as averb, pronounced \me.di.te\. méritez is at rank #19,348, tagged as averb, pronounced \me.ʁi.te\.

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 34796, this pair ranks #281,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of méditer vs méritez

Shared letters: eimrté. Private to "méditer": d. Private to "méritez": z.

"méditer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "méritez" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "méditer" for "méritez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\me.di.te\ versus \me.ʁi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "méditer" or "méritez"?
"méditer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,448 in our French list, against #19,348 for "méritez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "méditer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "méritez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "méditer" and "méritez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "méritées vs méritez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #281,311 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