Which to use
“mercis” is a noun and “métis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,043
- “mercis” frequency rank
- #18,806
- “métis” frequency rank
- 66849
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mercis | métis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de merci. | Qui est né de parents d’origines différentes. |
Where the eye mixes mercis and métis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mercis runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against métis's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mercis and métis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mercis is \mɛʁ.si\ while métis is \me.tis\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66849, 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\. métis is at rank #18,806, tagged as anadj, pronounced \me.tis\.
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 66849, this pair ranks #66,001 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mercis vs métis
Shared letters: ims. Private to "mercis": cer. Private to "métis": té.
"mercis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "métis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mercis ← emrcis · mecris · merccis · merciss · mercsi · merics · merrcis · mmercis
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mercis" for "métis" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mercis" vs "métis" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mercis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "métis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,001 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mercis" and "métis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marcia vs mercis". 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 #66,001 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.