mestrevsmetroTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,071
“mestre” frequency rank
#10,194
“metro” frequency rank
42265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mestre metro
Definition Grand mât des bâtiments à voiles latines par opposition au mât de trinquet. Métro.

Where the eye mixes mestre and metro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mestre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against metro's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mestre
5 ch
metro

Look-alike desk: mestre vs metro

A purely visual mix-up. mestre (\mɛstʁ\) and metro (\me.ˈtrɔ\) 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 42265, 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\. metro is at rank #10,194, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.ˈtrɔ\.

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 42265, this pair ranks #226,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mestre vs metro

Shared letters: emrt. Private to "mestre": s. Private to "metro": o.

"mestre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "metro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mestre ← emstre · mesrte · messtre · mester · mestrre · mesttre · metsre · mmestre
  • metro ← emtro · merto · metor · metrro · mettro · mmetro · mtero

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mestre" and "metro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mɛstʁ\ versus \me.ˈtrɔ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mestre" or "metro"?
"metro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,194 in our French list, against #32,071 for "mestre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mestre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "metro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,906 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mestre" and "metro" 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 #226,906 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