Which to use
“mêlées” is an adjective and “mettes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,210
- “mêlées” frequency rank
- #34,626
- “mettes” frequency rank
- 68836
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mêlées | mettes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de mêlé. | Pluriel de mette. |
Where the eye mixes mêlées and mettes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mêlées (CVCVVC) and mettes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between mêlées and mettes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mêlées is \mɛ.le\ while mettes is \mɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 68836, 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\. mettes is at rank #34,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛt\.
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 68836, this pair ranks #57,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mêlées vs mettes
Shared letters: ems. Private to "mêlées": léê. Private to "mettes": t.
"mêlées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "mettes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mettes ← emttes · metes · metets · mettess · mettse · mmettes · mtetes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mêlées" and "mettes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "mêlées" or "mettes" show up more?
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 "mêlées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,489 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mêlées" and "mettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettes vs muettes". 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 #57,489 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.