Which to use
“Mère” and “murs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #292
- “Mère” frequency rank
- #2,288
- “murs” frequency rank
- 2580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Mère | murs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom donné à la Vierge Marie. | Pluriel de mur. |
Where the eye mixes Mère and murs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Mère vs murs
A purely visual mix-up. Mère (\mɛʁ\) and murs (\myʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Mère is recorded at frequency rank #292, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\. murs is at rank #2,288, tagged as anoun, pronounced \myʁ\.
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 2580, this pair ranks #435,864 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Mère vs murs
Shared letters: mr. Private to "Mère": eè. Private to "murs": su.
"Mère" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "murs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- murs ← mmurs · mrus · murrs · murss · musr · umrs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Mère" and "murs" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "Mère" or "murs" show up more?
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 "Mère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "murs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,864 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Mère" and "murs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mud vs murs". 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 #435,864 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.