méprisentvsmépriserWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“méprisent” and “mépriser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,713
“méprisent” frequency rank
#21,405
“mépriser” frequency rank
52118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature méprisent mépriser
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mépriser. Considérer quelqu’un comme indigne d’estime.

Where the eye mixes méprisent and mépriser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. méprisent runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against mépriser's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
méprisent
8 ch
mépriser

Look-alike desk: méprisent vs mépriser

A purely visual mix-up. méprisent (\me.pʁiz\) 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 52118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

méprisent is recorded at frequency rank #30,713, classified as averb, pronounced \me.pʁiz\. 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 52118, this pair ranks #150,042 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of méprisent vs mépriser

Shared letters: eimprsé. Private to "méprisent": nt. Private to "mépriser": -.

"méprisent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC  ·  "mépriser" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "méprisent" for "mépriser" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\me.pʁiz\ versus \me.pʁi.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "méprisent" or "mépriser"?
"mépriser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,405 in our French list, against #30,713 for "méprisent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "méprisent" and "mépriser" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "méprisent" 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 #150,042 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "méprisent" and "mépriser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "méprisent vs méprisés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #150,042 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