Which to use
“mentale” and “mentaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,958
- “mentale” frequency rank
- #12,811
- “mentaux” frequency rank
- 17769
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mentale | mentaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de mental. | Masculin pluriel de mental. |
Where the eye mixes mentale and mentaux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mentale (CVCCVCV) and mentaux (CVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses mentale with mentaux
A purely visual mix-up. mentale (\mɑ̃.tal\) and mentaux (\mɑ̃.to\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17769, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mentale is recorded at frequency rank #4,958, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɑ̃.tal\. mentaux is at rank #12,811, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɑ̃.to\.
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 17769, this pair ranks #381,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mentale vs mentaux
Shared letters: aemnt. Private to "mentale": l. Private to "mentaux": ux.
"mentale" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "mentaux" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mentale" for "mentaux" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mentale" vs "mentaux" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mentale" and "mentaux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mentale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mentaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #381,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mentale" and "mentaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mentant vs mentaux". 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 #381,573 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.