menteursvsmetteursTell them apart

Quick tell: menteurs is a adjective, metteurs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“menteurs” is an adjective and “metteurs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,254
“menteurs” frequency rank
#35,156
“metteurs” frequency rank
53410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature menteurs metteurs
Definition Masculin pluriel de menteur. Pluriel de metteur.

Where the eye mixes menteurs and metteurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. menteurs and metteurs follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
menteurs
8 ch
metteurs

Look-alike desk: menteurs vs metteurs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: menteurs is \mɑ̃.tœʁ\ while metteurs is \mɛ.tœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “menteurs” becomes t in “metteurs”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

menteurs is recorded at frequency rank #18,254, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɑ̃.tœʁ\. metteurs is at rank #35,156, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛ.tœʁ\.

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 53410, this pair ranks #140,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of menteurs vs metteurs

Shared letters: emrstu. Private to "menteurs": n. Private to "metteurs": -.

"menteurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "metteurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • menteursemnteurs · meneturs · mennteurs · menterus · menteurrs · menteurss · menteusr · mentteurs
  • metteursemtteurs · meteturs · meteurs · metterus · metteurrs · metteurss · metteusr · mettuers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "menteurs" and "metteurs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "menteurs" is an adjective and "metteurs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "menteurs" or "metteurs" show up more?
"menteurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,254 in our French list, against #35,156 for "metteurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "menteurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "metteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #140,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "menteurs" and "metteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettes vs metteurs". 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 #140,915 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