meurtrevsmeurtrierConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,484
“meurtre” frequency rank
#9,043
“meurtrier” frequency rank
11527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meurtre meurtrier
Definition Homicide volontaire. Celui qui a commis un meurtre.

Where the eye mixes meurtre and meurtrier

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. meurtre runs 7 letters (CVVCCCV) against meurtrier's 9 (CVVCCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
meurtre
9 ch
meurtrier

Why the eye confuses meurtre with meurtrier

A purely visual mix-up. meurtre (\mœʁtʁ\) and meurtrier (\mœʁ.tʁi.je\) 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 11527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meurtre is recorded at frequency rank #2,484, classified as anoun, pronounced \mœʁtʁ\. meurtrier is at rank #9,043, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mœʁ.tʁi.je\.

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 11527, this pair ranks #408,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of meurtre vs meurtrier

Shared letters: emrtu. Private to "meurtre": -. Private to "meurtrier": i.

"meurtre" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV  ·  "meurtrier" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meurtre ← emurtre · merutre · meurrte · meurrtre · meurter · meurtrre · meurttre · meutrre
  • meurtrier ← emurtrier · merutrier · meurrtier · meurrtrier · meurtirer · meurtreir · meurtrierr · meurtrire

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meurtre" and "meurtrier" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mœʁtʁ\ versus \mœʁ.tʁi.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "meurtre" vs "meurtrier" - which ranks higher?
"meurtre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,484 in our French list, against #9,043 for "meurtrier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "meurtre" and "meurtrier" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "meurtre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meurtrier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #408,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meurtre" and "meurtrier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meurtrie vs meurtrier". 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 #408,823 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