membranes vs membres, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“membranes” and “membres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,704
“membranes” frequency rank: #480
“membres” frequency rank: 31184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	membranes	membres
Definition	Pluriel de membrane.	Pluriel de membre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set membranes and membres apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

membranes

7 ch

membres

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. membranes (\mɑ̃.bʁan\) and membres (\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 31184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

membranes is recorded at frequency rank #30,704, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃.bʁan\. membres is at rank #480, 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 31184, this pair ranks #305,454 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of membranes vs membres

Shared letters: bemrs. Private to "membranes": an. Private to "membres": -.

"membranes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC · "membres" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

membranes ← emmbranes · mebmranes · membarnes · membbranes · membraens · membraness · membrannes · membranse
membres ← emmbres · mebmres · membbres · membress · membrres · membrse · memmbres · memrbes

Frequency comparison

membranes#30,704

membres#480

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "membranes" and "membres" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\mɑ̃.bʁan\ versus \mɑ̃bʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "membranes" or "membres"?

"membres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #480 in our French list, against #30,704 for "membranes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering membranes vs membres

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “membranes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable