mesurevsmeuleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#520
“mesure” frequency rank
#29,861
“meule” frequency rank
30381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mesure meule
Definition Dimension. Roue en pierre, en bois, qui sert à broyer en tournant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mesure and meule apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
mesure
5 ch
meule

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mesure (\mə.zyʁ\) and meule (\møl\) 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 30381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mesure is recorded at frequency rank #520, classified as anoun, pronounced \mə.zyʁ\. meule is at rank #29,861, tagged as anoun, pronounced \møl\.

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 30381, this pair ranks #310,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mesure vs meule

Shared letters: emu. Private to "mesure": rs. Private to "meule": l.

"mesure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "meule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mesureemsure · mesrue · messure · mesuer · mesurre · meusre · mmesure · mseure
  • meuleemule · melue · meuel · meulle · mmeule · muele

Frequency comparison

mesure#520
meule#29,861

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mesure" and "meule" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mə.zyʁ\ versus \møl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mesure" or "meule"?
"mesure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #520 in our French list, against #29,861 for "meule". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mesure vs meule

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mesure” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list