mètresvsmeurtresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,068
“mètres” frequency rank
#7,085
“meurtres” frequency rank
8153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mètres meurtres
Definition Pluriel de mètre. Pluriel de meurtre.

Where the eye mixes mètres and meurtres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mètres runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against meurtres's 8 (CVVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mètres
8 ch
meurtres

Visual trap between mètres and meurtres

A purely visual mix-up. mètres (\mɛtʁ\) and meurtres (\mœʁtʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mètres is recorded at frequency rank #1,068, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛtʁ\. meurtres is at rank #7,085, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mœʁtʁ\.

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 8153, this pair ranks #420,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mètres vs meurtres

Shared letters: emrst. Private to "mètres": è. Private to "meurtres": u.

"mètres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "meurtres" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meurtres ← emurtres · merutres · meurrtes · meurrtres · meurters · meurtress · meurtrres · meurtrse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mètres" and "meurtres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mɛtʁ\ versus \mœʁtʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mètres" or "meurtres"?
"mètres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,068 in our French list, against #7,085 for "meurtres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mètres" and "meurtres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mètres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meurtres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #420,946 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mètres" and "meurtres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meurtres 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 #420,946 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