Which to use
“mystère” and “mystery” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,475
- “mystère” frequency rank
- #40,386
- “mystery” frequency rank
- 43861
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mystère | mystery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qu’une religion a de plus caché, ce qui n’est connu que des initiés. | Mystère. |
Where the eye mixes mystère and mystery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mystère and mystery follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: mystère vs mystery
A purely visual mix-up. mystère (\mi.stɛʁ\) and mystery (\ˈmɪs.tə.ri\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mystère is recorded at frequency rank #3,475, classified as anoun, pronounced \mi.stɛʁ\. mystery is at rank #40,386, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈmɪs.tə.ri\.
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 43861, this pair ranks #214,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mystère vs mystery
Shared letters: emrsty. Private to "mystère": è. Private to "mystery": -.
"mystère" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "mystery" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mystery ← mmystery · msytery · mysetry · mysstery · mysterry · mysteryy · mysteyr · mystrey
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mystère" for "mystery" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mystère" or "mystery"?
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 "mystère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mystery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mystère" and "mystery" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mister vs mystery". 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 #214,817 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.