mêlévsmodèleConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#13,013
“mêlé” frequency rank
#905
“modèle” frequency rank
13918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mêlé modèle
Definition Mélangé, entremêlé, embrouillé, désordonné. Ce qui sert d’exemple ; ce qui doit être imité.

Where the eye mixes mêlé and modèle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mêlé runs 4 letters (CVCV) against modèle's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mêlé
6 ch
modèle

Look-alike desk: mêlé vs modèle

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mêlé is \mɛ.le\ while modèle is \mɔ.dɛl\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mêlé is recorded at frequency rank #13,013, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛ.le\. modèle is at rank #905, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.dɛl\.

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 13918, this pair ranks #398,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mêlé vs modèle

Shared letters: lm. Private to "mêlé": éê. Private to "modèle": deoè.

"mêlé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "modèle" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mêlé" for "modèle" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mêlé" is an adjective and "modèle" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mêlé" or "modèle"?
"modèle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #905 in our French list, against #13,013 for "mêlé". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mêlé" and "modèle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mêlé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modèle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #398,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mêlé" and "modèle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mêlé vs memo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #398,965 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