Which to use
“méfier” is a verb and “Mercer” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,910
- “méfier” frequency rank
- #32,069
- “Mercer” frequency rank
- 42979
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | méfier | Mercer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ne pas se fier à quelqu’un, à ce qu’il dit, à ce qu’il fait paraître, parce qu’on le soupçonne de ne pas être sincère ni sûr. | Mercier. |
Letter map: méfier vs Mercer
Shared letters muted; letters that set méfier and Mercer apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. méfier (CVCVVC) and Mercer (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - méfier and Mercer
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: méfier is averb and Merceraname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
méfier is recorded at frequency rank #10,910, classified as averb, pronounced \me.fje\. Mercer is at rank #32,069, tagged as aname.
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 42979, this pair ranks #221,507 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of méfier vs Mercer
Shared letters: emr. Private to "méfier": fié. Private to "Mercer": c.
"méfier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "Mercer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Mercer ← emrcer · mecrer · merccer · mercerr · mercre · merecr · merrcer · mmercer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "méfier" for "Mercer" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "méfier" or "Mercer" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "méfier" vs "Mercer" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "méfier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Mercer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,507 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "méfier" and "Mercer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Meier vs Mercer". 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 #221,507 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.