méritéevsméritentConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,805
“méritée” frequency rank
#5,788
“méritent” frequency rank
24593
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature méritée méritent
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de mériter. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mériter.

Where the eye mixes méritée and méritent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. méritée runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against méritent's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
méritée
8 ch
méritent

Look-alike desk: méritée vs méritent

A purely visual mix-up. méritée (\me.ʁi.te\) and méritent (\me.ʁit\) 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 24593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

méritée is recorded at frequency rank #18,805, classified as averb, pronounced \me.ʁi.te\. méritent is at rank #5,788, tagged as averb, pronounced \me.ʁit\.

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 24593, this pair ranks #345,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of méritée vs méritent

Shared letters: eimrté. Private to "méritée": -. Private to "méritent": n.

"méritée" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "méritent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "méritée" and "méritent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\me.ʁi.te\ versus \me.ʁit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "méritée" vs "méritent" - which ranks higher?
"méritent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,788 in our French list, against #18,805 for "méritée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "méritée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "méritent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #345,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "méritée" and "méritent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "méritée vs méritées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #345,726 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list