Which to use
“mêlées” and “mêmes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,210
- “mêlées” frequency rank
- #571
- “mêmes” frequency rank
- 34781
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mêlées | mêmes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de mêlé. | Pluriel de même. |
Where the eye mixes mêlées and mêmes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mêlées runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against mêmes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mêlées and mêmes
A purely visual mix-up. mêlées (\mɛ.le\) and mêmes (\mɛm\) 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 34781, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mêlées is recorded at frequency rank #34,210, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛ.le\. 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 34781, this pair ranks #281,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mêlées vs mêmes
Shared letters: emsê. Private to "mêlées": lé. Private to "mêmes": -.
"mêlées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "mêmes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mêlées" and "mêmes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mêlées" vs "mêmes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mêlées" and "mêmes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mêlées" 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 #281,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mêlées" and "mêmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malles vs mêlées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #281,427 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.