Which to use
“mers” and “mètre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,271
- “mers” frequency rank
- #6,113
- “mètre” frequency rank
- 14384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mers | mètre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mer. | 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 mers and mètre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mers runs 4 letters (CVCC) against mètre's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mers and mètre
A purely visual mix-up. mers (\mɛʁ\) and mètre (\mɛtʁ\) 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 14384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mers is recorded at frequency rank #8,271, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\. 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 14384, this pair ranks #396,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mers vs mètre
Shared letters: emr. Private to "mers": s. Private to "mètre": tè.
"mers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mètre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mers ← emrs · merrs · merss · mesr · mmers · mres
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mers" and "mètre" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "mers" or "mètre" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mers" 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 #396,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mers" and "mètre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "memo vs mers". 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 #396,907 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.