Which to use
“mesures” and “misères” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,066
- “mesures” frequency rank
- #28,253
- “misères” frequency rank
- 29319
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mesures | misères |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mesure. | Pluriel de misère. |
Where the eye mixes mesures and misères
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mesures and misères follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mesures with misères
A purely visual mix-up. mesures (\mə.zyʁ\) and misères (\mi.zɛʁ\) 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 29319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mesures is recorded at frequency rank #1,066, classified as anoun, pronounced \mə.zyʁ\. misères is at rank #28,253, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.zɛʁ\.
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 29319, this pair ranks #317,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mesures vs misères
Shared letters: emrs. Private to "mesures": u. Private to "misères": iè.
"mesures" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "misères" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mesures ← emsures · mesrues · messures · mesuers · mesuress · mesurres · mesurse · meusres
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mesures" and "misères" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mesures" vs "misères" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mesures" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "misères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mesures" and "misères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "misères vs miséreux". 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 #317,413 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.