Which to use
“mer” and “merci” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #657
- “mer” frequency rank
- #197
- “merci” frequency rank
- 854
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mer | merci |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vaste étendue d’eau salée qui baigne les diverses parties de la terre. | Miséricorde, grâce, pitié. |
Where the eye mixes mer and merci
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mer vs merci
A purely visual mix-up. mer (\mɛʁ\) and merci (\mɛʁ.si\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “mer” sits inside “merci”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mer is recorded at frequency rank #657, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\. merci is at rank #197, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ.si\.
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 854, this pair ranks #439,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mer vs merci
Shared letters: emr. Private to "mer": -. Private to "merci": ci.
"mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "merci" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- merci ← emrci · mecri · mercci · meric · merrci · mmerci · mreci
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mer" for "merci" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mer" vs "merci" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "merci" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mer" and "merci" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mer vs MWh". 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 #439,017 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.