Which to use
“merry” is an adjective and “mètre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,674
- “merry” frequency rank
- #6,113
- “mètre” frequency rank
- 30787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | merry | mètre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gai, joyeux. | Unité de mesure de longueur du Système international, dont le symbole est m. Le mètre est défini de manière universelle depuis 1983 par la longueur du trajet parcouru par la lumière dans le vide en 1/299 792 458 de seconde. |
Where the eye mixes merry and mètre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between merry and mètre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: merry is \ˈmɛɹ.i\ while mètre is \mɛtʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
merry is recorded at frequency rank #24,674, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈmɛɹ.i\. mètre is at rank #6,113, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛtʁ\.
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 30787, this pair ranks #307,986 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of merry vs mètre
Shared letters: emr. Private to "merry": y. Private to "mètre": tè.
"merry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mètre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- merry ← emrry · merryy · mery · meryr · mmerry · mrery
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "merry" for "mètre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "merry" vs "mètre" - 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 "merry" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mètre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,986 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "merry" and "mètre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "merry vs Méry". 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 #307,986 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.