metsvsmusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,444
“mets” frequency rank
#26,805
“mus” frequency rank
28249
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mets mus
Definition Chacun des aliments apprêtés qu’on sert pour les repas. Jeu de cartes populaire d'origine basque.

Where the eye mixes mets and mus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mets
3 ch
mus

Why the eye confuses mets with mus

A purely visual mix-up. mets (\mɛ\) and mus (\muʃ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mets is recorded at frequency rank #1,444, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛ\. mus is at rank #26,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced \muʃ\.

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 28249, this pair ranks #323,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mets vs mus

Shared letters: ms. Private to "mets": et. Private to "mus": u.

"mets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • metsemts · mest · metss · metts · mmets · mtes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mets" for "mus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɛ\ versus \muʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mets" vs "mus" - which ranks higher?
"mets" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,444 in our French list, against #26,805 for "mus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mets" and "mus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mus vs MWh". 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 #323,993 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