méprisentvsméprisésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,713
“méprisent” frequency rank
#49,810
“méprisés” frequency rank
80523
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature méprisent méprisés
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mépriser. Participe passé masculin pluriel de mépriser.

Where the eye mixes méprisent and méprisés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. méprisent runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against méprisés's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
méprisent
8 ch
méprisés

Look-alike desk: méprisent vs méprisés

A purely visual mix-up. méprisent (\me.pʁiz\) and méprisés (\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 80523, 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\. méprisés is at rank #49,810, 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 80523, this pair ranks #20,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of méprisent vs méprisés

Shared letters: imprsé. Private to "méprisent": ent. Private to "méprisés": -.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "méprisent" and "méprisés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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.
Frequency check: "méprisent" vs "méprisés" - which ranks higher?
"méprisent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,713 in our French list, against #49,810 for "méprisés". 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 "méprisés" 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 "méprisés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "méprisent" and "méprisés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "méprisés vs mérités". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #20,714 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