Which to use
“mémoriser” and “mépriser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,878
- “mémoriser” frequency rank
- #21,405
- “mépriser” frequency rank
- 51283
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mémoriser | mépriser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Conserver en mémoire. | Considérer quelqu’un comme indigne d’estime. |
Where the eye mixes mémoriser and mépriser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mémoriser runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCVC) against mépriser's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mémoriser and mépriser
A purely visual mix-up. mémoriser (\me.mɔ.ʁi.ze\) and mépriser (\me.pʁi.ze\) 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 51283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mémoriser is recorded at frequency rank #29,878, classified as averb, pronounced \me.mɔ.ʁi.ze\. mépriser is at rank #21,405, tagged as averb, pronounced \me.pʁi.ze\.
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 51283, this pair ranks #156,202 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mémoriser vs mépriser
Shared letters: eimrsé. Private to "mémoriser": o. Private to "mépriser": p.
"mémoriser" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC · "mépriser" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mémoriser" and "mépriser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "mémoriser" or "mépriser" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mémoriser" and "mépriser" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mémoriser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mépriser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,202 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mémoriser" and "mépriser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mépriser vs méprisés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #156,202 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.