Which to use
“messire” and “mesure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,598
- “messire” frequency rank
- #520
- “mesure” frequency rank
- 20118
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | messire | mesure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Titre d’honneur qui se donnait anciennement, dans les actes, à des personnes de distinction. | Dimension. |
Where the eye mixes messire and mesure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. messire runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against mesure's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses messire with mesure
A purely visual mix-up. messire (\mɛ.siʁ\) and mesure (\mə.zyʁ\) 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 20118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
messire is recorded at frequency rank #19,598, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛ.siʁ\. mesure is at rank #520, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mə.zyʁ\.
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 20118, this pair ranks #369,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of messire vs mesure
Shared letters: emrs. Private to "messire": i. Private to "mesure": u.
"messire" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "mesure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "messire" for "mesure" ever safe?
Which is more common, "messire" or "mesure"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "messire" and "mesure" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "messire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mesure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "messire" and "mesure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "messier vs messire". 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 #369,865 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.