mètresvsmuettesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,068
“mètres” frequency rank
#48,672
“muettes” frequency rank
49740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mètres muettes
Definition Pluriel de mètre. Féminin pluriel de muet.

Where the eye mixes mètres and muettes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mètres runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against muettes's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mètres
7 ch
muettes

Look-alike desk: mètres vs muettes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mètres is \mɛtʁ\ while muettes is \mɥɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49740, 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\. muettes is at rank #48,672, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɥɛt\.

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 49740, this pair ranks #168,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mètres vs muettes

Shared letters: emst. Private to "mètres": rè. Private to "muettes": u.

"mètres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "muettes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • muettes ← meuttes · mmuettes · muetes · muetets · muettess · muettse · mutetes · umettes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mètres" and "muettes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mètres" is a noun and "muettes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mètres" vs "muettes" - which ranks higher?
"mètres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,068 in our French list, against #48,672 for "muettes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "mètres" and "muettes" 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 "muettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #168,191 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mètres" and "muettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mottes vs muettes". 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 #168,191 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