Which to use
“mêlent” is a verb and “mulet” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,945
- “mêlent” frequency rank
- #32,921
- “mulet” frequency rank
- 48866
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mêlent | mulet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mêler. | Équidé mâle né d’un âne et d’une jument, ou d’un cheval et d’une ânesse (on dit plus précisément dans ce cas bardot), et généralement stérile. |
Where the eye mixes mêlent and mulet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mêlent runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against mulet's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mêlent and mulet
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mêlent is \mɛl\ while mulet is \my.lɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mêlent is recorded at frequency rank #15,945, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛl\. mulet is at rank #32,921, tagged as anoun, pronounced \my.lɛ\.
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 48866, this pair ranks #175,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mêlent vs mulet
Shared letters: elmt. Private to "mêlent": nê. Private to "mulet": u.
"mêlent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "mulet" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mulet ← mluet · mmulet · muelt · mulett · mullet · multe · umlet
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mêlent" and "mulet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mêlent" or "mulet"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mêlent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mulet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mêlent" and "mulet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muer vs mulet". 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 #175,426 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.