meuvsmugTell them apart

Quick tell: meu is a verb, mug is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“meu” is a verb and “mug” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,580
“meu” frequency rank
#31,613
“mug” frequency rank
76193
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meu mug
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe movoir. Grande tasse dont la forme et la capacité rappellent une chope.

Where the eye mixes meu and mug

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

3 ch
meu
3 ch
mug

Look-alike desk: meu vs mug

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meu is \məˈy\ while mug is \mœɡ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76193, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meu is recorded at frequency rank #44,580, classified as averb, pronounced \məˈy\. mug is at rank #31,613, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mœɡ\.

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 76193, this pair ranks #31,827 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of meu vs mug

Shared letters: mu. Private to "meu": e. Private to "mug": g.

"meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mug" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meu" and "mug" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meu" is a verb and "mug" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "meu" vs "mug" - which ranks higher?
"mug" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,613 in our French list, against #44,580 for "meu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "meu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,827 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meu" and "mug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meu vs MWh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #31,827 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