Which to use
“mettes” and “mouettes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,626
- “mettes” frequency rank
- #31,611
- “mouettes” frequency rank
- 66237
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettes | mouettes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mette. | Moettes. |
Where the eye mixes mettes and mouettes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mettes and mouettes
A purely visual mix-up. mettes (\mɛt\) and mouettes (\mwɛt\) 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 66237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mettes is recorded at frequency rank #34,626, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛt\. mouettes is at rank #31,611, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mwɛt\.
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 66237, this pair ranks #68,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mettes vs mouettes
Shared letters: emst. Private to "mettes": -. Private to "mouettes": ou.
"mettes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mouettes" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mettes" for "mouettes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mettes" vs "mouettes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mettes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mouettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettes" and "mouettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettes 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 #68,677 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.