mêlésvsmêlezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mêlés is a adjective, mêlez is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mêlés” is an adjective and “mêlez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,299
“mêlés” frequency rank
#38,936
“mêlez” frequency rank
63235
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mêlés mêlez
Definition Masculin pluriel de mêlé. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mêler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mêlés and mêlez apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
mêlés
5 ch
mêlez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mêlés is \me.le\ while mêlez is \mɛ.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mêlés is recorded at frequency rank #24,299, classified as anadj, pronounced \me.le\. mêlez is at rank #38,936, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ.le\.

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 63235, this pair ranks #83,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mêlés vs mêlez

Shared letters: lmê. Private to "mêlés": . Private to "mêlez": ez.

"mêlés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mêlez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequency comparison

mêlés#24,299
mêlez#38,936

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mêlés" and "mêlez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mêlés" is an adjective and "mêlez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mêlés" or "mêlez"?
"mêlés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,299 in our French list, against #38,936 for "mêlez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mêlés vs mêlez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “mêlés”; for a verb, it's “mêlez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mêlés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list