Which to use
“mêlée” and “Mère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,703
- “mêlée” frequency rank
- #292
- “Mère” frequency rank
- 9995
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mêlée | Mère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Combat opiniâtre, où deux troupes s’attaquent corps-à-corps et se mêlent. | Nom donné à la Vierge Marie. |
Where the eye mixes mêlée and Mère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mêlée with Mère
A purely visual mix-up. mêlée (\me.le\) and Mère (\mɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mêlée is recorded at frequency rank #9,703, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.le\. Mère is at rank #292, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\.
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 9995, this pair ranks #414,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mêlée vs Mère
Shared letters: em. Private to "mêlée": léê. Private to "Mère": rè.
"mêlée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "Mère" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mêlée" and "Mère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mêlée" vs "Mère" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mêlée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Mère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mêlée" and "Mère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Meier vs mêlée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #414,624 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.