Which to use
“mer” is a noun and “mon” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #657
- “mer” frequency rank
- #66
- “mon” frequency rank
- 723
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mer | mon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vaste étendue d’eau salée qui baigne les diverses parties de la terre. | Marque la possession ou l’appartenance. Le possesseur est le locuteur, ce qu’il possède est au masculin singulier. |
Where the eye mixes mer and mon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between mer and mon
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mer is \mɛʁ\ while mon is \mɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mer is recorded at frequency rank #657, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\. mon is at rank #66, tagged as adet, pronounced \mɔ̃\.
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 723, this pair ranks #439,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mer vs mon
Shared letters: m. Private to "mer": er. Private to "mon": no.
"mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "mon" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mer" and "mon" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mer" or "mon"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mer" and "mon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mer" and "mon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mer vs MWh". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #439,219 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.