Which to use
“mélancolie” is a noun and “mélancolique” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,488
- “mélancolie” frequency rank
- #18,804
- “mélancolique” frequency rank
- 36292
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mélancolie | mélancolique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hypothétique bile noire dont l’excès de sécrétion prédisposerait le patient à la tristesse, selon la médecine ancienne et sa théorie des humeurs. | Qui se livre à la mélancolie. |
Where the eye mixes mélancolie and mélancolique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. mélancolie runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCVV) against mélancolique's 12 (CVCVCCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: mélancolie vs mélancolique
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mélancolie is \me.lɑ̃.kɔ.li\ while mélancolique is \me.lɑ̃.kɔ.lik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mélancolie is recorded at frequency rank #17,488, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.lɑ̃.kɔ.li\. mélancolique is at rank #18,804, tagged as anadj, pronounced \me.lɑ̃.kɔ.lik\.
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 36292, this pair ranks #270,627 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mélancolie vs mélancolique
Shared letters: aceilmnoé. Private to "mélancolie": -. Private to "mélancolique": qu.
"mélancolie" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV · "mélancolique" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mélancolie" for "mélancolique" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mélancolie" or "mélancolique"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mélancolie" and "mélancolique" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mélancolie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mélancolique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #270,627 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mélancolie" and "mélancolique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mélancolique vs mélancoliques". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #270,627 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.