Which to use
“menthe” is a noun and “mette” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,214
- “menthe” frequency rank
- #6,111
- “mette” frequency rank
- 19325
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | menthe | mette |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plante odoriférante du genre Mentha de la famille des Lamiacées (Lamiaceae), ordre des Lamiales. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de mettre. |
Where the eye mixes menthe and mette
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between menthe and mette
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: menthe is \mɑ̃t\ while mette is \mɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
menthe is recorded at frequency rank #13,214, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃t\. mette is at rank #6,111, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛt\.
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 19325, this pair ranks #373,827 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of menthe vs mette
Shared letters: emt. Private to "menthe": hn. Private to "mette": -.
"menthe" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "mette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "menthe" for "mette" ever safe?
Frequency check: "menthe" vs "mette" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "menthe" and "mette" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "menthe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #373,827 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "menthe" and "mette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "menthe vs meutre". 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 #373,827 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.