Which to use
“memo” and “metro” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,793
- “memo” frequency rank
- #10,194
- “metro” frequency rank
- 59987
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | memo | metro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mémo, aide-mémoire. | Métro. |
Where the eye mixes memo and metro
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. memo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against metro's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses memo with metro
A purely visual mix-up. memo (\ˈmɛm.əʊ̯\) and metro (\me.ˈtrɔ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
memo is recorded at frequency rank #49,793, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈmɛm.əʊ̯\. metro is at rank #10,194, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.ˈtrɔ\.
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 59987, this pair ranks #100,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of memo vs metro
Shared letters: emo. Private to "memo": -. Private to "metro": rt.
"memo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "metro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "memo" and "metro" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "memo" vs "metro" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "memo" and "metro" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "memo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "metro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "memo" and "metro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "memo vs mito". 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 #100,073 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.