Which to use
“metro” and “micro” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,194
- “metro” frequency rank
- #2,683
- “micro” frequency rank
- 12877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | metro | micro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Métro. | Microphone. |
Where the eye mixes metro and micro
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between metro and micro
A purely visual mix-up. metro (\me.ˈtrɔ\) and micro (\mi.kʁo\) 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 12877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
metro is recorded at frequency rank #10,194, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.ˈtrɔ\. micro is at rank #2,683, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.kʁo\.
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 12877, this pair ranks #403,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of metro vs micro
Shared letters: mor. Private to "metro": et. Private to "micro": ci.
"metro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "micro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "metro" for "micro" ever safe?
Frequency check: "metro" vs "micro" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "metro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "micro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "metro" and "micro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "metro vs mito". 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 #403,382 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.