mères vs murs, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#4,253
“mères” frequency rank: #2,288
“murs” frequency rank: 6541
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mères	murs
Definition	Pluriel de mère.	Pluriel de mur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mères and murs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

mères

4 ch

murs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mères (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mères is recorded at frequency rank #4,253, 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 6541, this pair ranks #425,936 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mères vs murs

Shared letters: mrs. Private to "mères": eè. Private to "murs": u.

"mères" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "murs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

murs ← mmurs · mrus · murrs · murss · musr · umrs

Frequency comparison

mères#4,253

murs#2,288

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mères" and "murs" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "mères" or "murs"?

"murs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,288 in our French list, against #4,253 for "mères". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mères vs murs

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