membresvsmèresConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#480
“membres” frequency rank
#4,253
“mères” frequency rank
4733
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature membres mères
Definition Pluriel de membre. Pluriel de mère.

Where the eye mixes membres and mères

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. membres runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against mères's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
membres
5 ch
mères

Look-alike desk: membres vs mères

A purely visual mix-up. membres (\mɑ̃bʁ\) and mères (\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 4733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

membres is recorded at frequency rank #480, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃bʁ\. mères is at rank #4,253, 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 4733, this pair ranks #430,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of membres vs mères

Shared letters: emrs. Private to "membres": b. Private to "mères": è.

"membres" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "mères" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • membres ← emmbres · mebmres · membbres · membress · membrres · membrse · memmbres · memrbes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "membres" for "mères" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɑ̃bʁ\ versus \mɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "membres" vs "mères" - which ranks higher?
"membres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #480 in our French list, against #4,253 for "mères". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "membres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "membres" and "mères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Meier vs mères". 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 #430,844 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list