mercis vs mercy, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#48,043
“mercis” frequency rank: #24,673
“mercy” frequency rank: 72716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mercis	mercy
Definition	Pluriel de merci.	Miséricorde.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mercis and mercy apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

mercis

5 ch

mercy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mercis (\mɛʁ.si\) and mercy (\ˈmɝ.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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mercis is recorded at frequency rank #48,043, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ.si\. mercy is at rank #24,673, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈmɝ.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 72716, this pair ranks #43,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mercis vs mercy

Shared letters: cemr. Private to "mercis": is. Private to "mercy": y.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

mercis ← emrcis · mecris · merccis · merciss · mercsi · merics · merrcis · mmercis
mercy ← emrcy · mecry · merccy · mercyy · merrcy · meryc · mmercy · mrecy

Frequency comparison

mercis#48,043

mercy#24,673

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. They are said differently (\mɛʁ.si\ versus \ˈmɝ.si\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

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

"mercy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,673 in our French list, against #48,043 for "mercis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mercis vs mercy

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 “mercis” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable