mépris vs meurs, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mépris” is a noun and “meurs” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,964
“mépris” frequency rank: #7,342
“meurs” frequency rank: 12306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mépris	meurs
Definition	Sentiment par lequel on juge une personne ou une chose indigne d’estime, d’égards, d’attention.	Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de mourir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mépris and meurs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

mépris

5 ch

meurs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mépris is \me.pʁi\ while meurs is \mœʁ\. 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 12306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mépris is recorded at frequency rank #4,964, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.pʁi\. meurs is at rank #7,342, tagged as averb, pronounced \mœʁ\.

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 12306, this pair ranks #405,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mépris vs meurs

Shared letters: mrs. Private to "mépris": ipé. Private to "meurs": eu.

"mépris" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "meurs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

meurs ← emurs · merus · meurrs · meurss · meusr · mmeurs · muers

Frequency comparison

mépris#4,964

meurs#7,342

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mépris" and "meurs" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mépris" is a noun and "meurs" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "mépris" or "meurs"?

"mépris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,964 in our French list, against #7,342 for "meurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mépris vs meurs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mépris”; for a verb, it's “meurs”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mépris” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable