meetvsmêlentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,597
“meet” frequency rank
#15,945
“mêlent” frequency rank
35542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meet mêlent
Definition Rencontrer. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mêler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set meet and mêlent apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
meet
6 ch
mêlent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. meet (\ˈmit\) and mêlent (\mɛl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meet is recorded at frequency rank #19,597, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈmit\. mêlent is at rank #15,945, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛl\.

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 35542, this pair ranks #275,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of meet vs mêlent

Shared letters: emt. Private to "meet": -. Private to "mêlent": lnê.

"meet" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mêlent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meetmeett · mmeet

Frequency comparison

meet#19,597
mêlent#15,945

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meet" and "mêlent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈmit\ versus \mɛl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "meet" or "mêlent"?
"mêlent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,945 in our French list, against #19,597 for "meet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering meet vs mêlent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “meet” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list