Which to use
“meule” and “mulet” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,861
- “meule” frequency rank
- #32,921
- “mulet” frequency rank
- 62782
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meule | mulet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Roue en pierre, en bois, qui sert à broyer en tournant. | Équidé mâle né d’un âne et d’une jument, ou d’un cheval et d’une ânesse (on dit plus précisément dans ce cas bardot), et généralement stérile. |
Where the eye mixes meule and mulet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. meule (CVVCV) and mulet (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses meule with mulet
A purely visual mix-up. meule (\møl\) and mulet (\my.lɛ\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62782, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meule is recorded at frequency rank #29,861, classified as anoun, pronounced \møl\. mulet is at rank #32,921, tagged as anoun, pronounced \my.lɛ\.
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 62782, this pair ranks #85,321 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of meule vs mulet
Shared letters: elmu. Private to "meule": -. Private to "mulet": t.
"meule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "mulet" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "meule" and "mulet" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "meule" or "mulet" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "meule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mulet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,321 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meule" and "mulet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muer vs mulet". 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 #85,321 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.