Which to use
“membrane” and “membre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,439
- “membrane” frequency rank
- #1,034
- “membre” frequency rank
- 16473
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | membrane | membre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tissu organique animal servant à former, envelopper, séparer ou tapisser des cellules ou des organes. | Partie extérieure du corps d’un être humain ou d’un animal, distinguée de toutes les autres par quelque fonction particulière. Note d’usage : Se dit principalement des bras et des jambes ; ne se dit jamais de la tête. |
Where the eye mixes membrane and membre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. membrane runs 8 letters (CVCCCVCV) against membre's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses membrane with membre
A purely visual mix-up. membrane (\mɑ̃.bʁan\) and membre (\mɑ̃bʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
membrane is recorded at frequency rank #15,439, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃.bʁan\. membre is at rank #1,034, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃bʁ\.
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 16473, this pair ranks #387,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of membrane vs membre
Shared letters: bemr. Private to "membrane": an. Private to "membre": -.
"membrane" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV · "membre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "membrane" and "membre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "membrane" or "membre"?
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 "membrane" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "membre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "membrane" and "membre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "membre vs meutre". 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 #387,677 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.