MeiervsmêmesConfusable pair

Quick tell: Meier is a noun, mêmes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Meier” is a noun and “mêmes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,216
“Meier” frequency rank
#571
“mêmes” frequency rank
49787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Meier mêmes
Definition Métayer, à l'origine, fonctionnaire d'un propriétaire noble ou ecclésiastique qui avait en charge l'administration et la gestion de la ferme principale. Plus tard, locataire d'une grande exploitation agricole. majordome. Pluriel de même.

Where the eye mixes Meier and mêmes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Meier
5 ch
mêmes

Why the eye confuses Meier with mêmes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Meier is \maɪ̯ɐ\ while mêmes is \mɛm\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Meier is recorded at frequency rank #49,216, classified as anoun, pronounced \maɪ̯ɐ\. mêmes is at rank #571, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɛm\.

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 49787, this pair ranks #167,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Meier vs mêmes

Shared letters: em. Private to "Meier": ir. Private to "mêmes": .

"Meier" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "mêmes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Meieremier · meeir · meierr · meire · mieer · mmeier

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Meier" and "mêmes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Meier" is a noun and "mêmes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Meier" vs "mêmes" - which ranks higher?
"mêmes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #571 in our French list, against #49,216 for "Meier". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Meier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mêmes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #167,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Meier" and "mêmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Meier vs muer". 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 #167,858 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