mètrevsmeurWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mètre is a noun, meur is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mètre” is a noun and “meur” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,113
“mètre” frequency rank
#43,010
“meur” frequency rank
49123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mètre meur
Definition Unité de mesure de longueur du Système international, dont le symbole est m. Le mètre est défini de manière universelle depuis 1983 par la longueur du trajet parcouru par la lumière dans le vide en 1/299 792 458 de seconde. Mûr.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mètre and meur apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
mètre
4 ch
meur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mètre is anoun and meuranadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mètre is recorded at frequency rank #6,113, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛtʁ\. meur is at rank #43,010, tagged as anadj.

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 49123, this pair ranks #173,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mètre vs meur

Shared letters: emr. Private to "mètre": . Private to "meur": u.

"mètre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "meur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meuremur · meru · meurr · mmeur

Frequency comparison

mètre#6,113
meur#43,010

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mètre" and "meur" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mètre" is a noun and "meur" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mètre" or "meur"?
"mètre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,113 in our French list, against #43,010 for "meur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mètre vs meur

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mètre”; for an adjective, it's “meur”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mètre” 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