mestrevsmesuresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,071
“mestre” frequency rank
#1,066
“mesures” frequency rank
33137
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mestre mesures
Definition Grand mât des bâtiments à voiles latines par opposition au mât de trinquet. Pluriel de mesure.

Where the eye mixes mestre and mesures

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mestre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against mesures's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mestre
7 ch
mesures

Why the eye confuses mestre with mesures

A purely visual mix-up. mestre (\mɛstʁ\) and mesures (\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 33137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mestre is recorded at frequency rank #32,071, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛstʁ\. mesures is at rank #1,066, 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 33137, this pair ranks #292,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mestre vs mesures

Shared letters: emrs. Private to "mestre": t. Private to "mesures": u.

"mestre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "mesures" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mestre ← emstre · mesrte · messtre · mester · mestrre · mesttre · metsre · mmestre
  • mesures ← emsures · mesrues · messures · mesuers · mesuress · mesurres · mesurse · meusres

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mestre" for "mesures" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɛstʁ\ versus \mə.zyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mestre" vs "mesures" - which ranks higher?
"mesures" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,066 in our French list, against #32,071 for "mestre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mestre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mesures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #292,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mestre" and "mesures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mestre vs meutre". 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 #292,630 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