mestrevsmostraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,071
“mestre” frequency rank
#47,468
“mostra” frequency rank
79539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes mestre and mostra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mestre and mostra follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
mestre
6 ch
mostra

Visual trap between mestre and mostra

A purely visual mix-up. mestre (\mɛstʁ\) and mostra (\ˈmo.stra\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79539, 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\. mostra is at rank #47,468, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈmo.stra\.

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 79539, this pair ranks #23,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mestre vs mostra

Shared letters: mrst. Private to "mestre": e. Private to "mostra": ao.

"mestre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "mostra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mestre ← emstre · mesrte · messtre · mester · mestrre · mesttre · metsre · mmestre
  • mostra ← mmostra · mosrta · mosstra · mostar · mostrra · mosttra · motsra · msotra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mestre" for "mostra" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɛstʁ\ versus \ˈmo.stra\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mestre" vs "mostra" - which ranks higher?
"mestre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,071 in our French list, against #47,468 for "mostra". 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 "mostra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mestre" and "mostra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mostra vs Moura". 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 #23,043 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