Which to use
“message” and “métrage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #708
- “message” frequency rank
- #6,115
- “métrage” frequency rank
- 6823
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | message | métrage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Charge ou commission de dire ou de porter quelque chose. | Action de métrer ou résultat de cette action. |
Where the eye mixes message and métrage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses message with métrage
A purely visual mix-up. message (\me.saʒ\) and métrage (\met.ʁaʒ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
message is recorded at frequency rank #708, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.saʒ\. métrage is at rank #6,115, tagged as anoun, pronounced \met.ʁaʒ\.
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 6823, this pair ranks #425,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of message vs métrage
Shared letters: aegm. Private to "message": s. Private to "métrage": rté.
"message" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "métrage" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- message ← emssage · mesage · mesasge · messaeg · messagge · messgae · mmessage · msesage
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "message" and "métrage" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "message" or "métrage" 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 "message" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "métrage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "message" and "métrage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "message vs Messine". 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 #425,116 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.