mêlantvsmilanoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mêlant is a adjective, milano is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#15,195
“mêlant” frequency rank
#29,042
“milano” frequency rank
44237
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mêlant milano
Definition Compliqué. Milan.

Where the eye mixes mêlant and milano

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mêlant (CVCVCC) and milano (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
mêlant
6 ch
milano

Look-alike desk: mêlant vs milano

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mêlant is \mɛ.lɑ̃\ while milano is \mi.ˈla.nɔ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mêlant is recorded at frequency rank #15,195, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛ.lɑ̃\. milano is at rank #29,042, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.ˈla.nɔ\.

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 44237, this pair ranks #212,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mêlant vs milano

Shared letters: almn. Private to "mêlant": tê. Private to "milano": io.

"mêlant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "milano" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • milano ← imlano · mialno · milanno · milaon · millano · milnao · mliano · mmilano

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mêlant" for "milano" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mêlant" is an adjective and "milano" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mêlant" or "milano"?
"mêlant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,195 in our French list, against #29,042 for "milano". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mêlant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "milano" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #212,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mêlant" and "milano" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mikado vs milano". 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 #212,012 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