meivsMRConfusable pair

Quick tell: mei is a conjunction, MR is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mei” is a conjunction and “MR” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,392
“mei” frequency rank
#2,434
“MR” frequency rank
23826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mei MR
Definition Ni (liaison simple). Mouvement Réformateur, parti politique belge francophone de droite.

Where the eye mixes mei and MR

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mei
2 ch
MR

Why the eye confuses mei with MR

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mei is \ˈmɛi\ while MR is \ɛ.m‿ɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mei is recorded at frequency rank #21,392, classified as aconj, pronounced \ˈmɛi\. MR is at rank #2,434, tagged as aname, pronounced \ɛ.m‿ɛʁ\.

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 23826, this pair ranks #350,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mei vs MR

Shared letters: m. Private to "mei": ei. Private to "MR": r.

"mei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "MR" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mei" and "MR" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mei" is a conjunction and "MR" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mei" or "MR"?
"MR" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,434 in our French list, against #21,392 for "mei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "MR" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #350,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mei" and "MR" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mei vs MWh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #350,251 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