merci vs mercis, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#197
“merci” frequency rank: #48,043
“mercis” frequency rank: 48240
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	merci	mercis
Definition	Miséricorde, grâce, pitié.	Pluriel de merci.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set merci and mercis apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

merci

6 ch

mercis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. merci and mercis are pronounced identically (\mɛʁ.si\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “merci” sits inside “mercis”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48240, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

merci is recorded at frequency rank #197, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ.si\. mercis is at rank #48,043, 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 48240, this pair ranks #180,511 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of merci vs mercis

Shared letters: ceimr. Private to "merci": -. Private to "mercis": s.

"merci" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mercis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

merci ← emrci · mecri · mercci · meric · merrci · mmerci · mreci
mercis ← emrcis · mecris · merccis · merciss · mercsi · merics · merrcis · mmercis

Frequency comparison

merci#197

mercis#48,043

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "merci" and "mercis" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\mɛʁ.si\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "merci" or "mercis"?

"merci" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #197 in our French list, against #48,043 for "mercis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering merci vs mercis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “merci” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable