Which to use
“membre” and “Mère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,034
- “membre” frequency rank
- #292
- “Mère” frequency rank
- 1326
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | membre | Mère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Nom donné à la Vierge Marie. |
Where the eye mixes membre and Mère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. membre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against Mère's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses membre with Mère
A purely visual mix-up. membre (\mɑ̃bʁ\) and Mère (\mɛʁ\) 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 1326, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
membre is recorded at frequency rank #1,034, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃bʁ\. Mère is at rank #292, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\.
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 1326, this pair ranks #438,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of membre vs Mère
Shared letters: emr. Private to "membre": b. Private to "Mère": è.
"membre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "Mère" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- membre ← emmbre · mebmre · membbre · membrre · memmbre · memrbe · mmebre · mmembre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "membre" and "Mère" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "membre" or "Mère"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "membre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Mère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "membre" and "Mère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "memo vs Mère". 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 #438,258 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.