Which to use
“marque” and “marquis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,747
- “marque” frequency rank
- #16,073
- “marquis” frequency rank
- 63820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marque | marquis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A brand of a manufactured product, especially of a motor car. | A nobleman in England, France, and Germany, of a rank next below that of duke, but above a count. Originally, the marquis was an officer whose duty was to guard the marches or frontiers of the kingdom. The office has ceased, and the name is now a mere title conferred by letters patent or letters close. |
Where the eye mixes marque and marquis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. marque runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against marquis's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses marque with marquis
A purely visual mix-up. marque (/ˈmɑː(ɹ)k/) and marquis (/ˈmɑː.kwɪs/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marque is recorded at frequency rank #47,747, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑː(ɹ)k/. marquis is at rank #16,073, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑː.kwɪs/.
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 63820, this pair ranks #80,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of marque vs marquis
Shared letters: amqru. Private to "marque": e. Private to "marquis": is.
"marque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "marquis" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marque" for "marquis" ever safe?
Frequency check: "marque" vs "marquis" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "marque" and "marquis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "marque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marquis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #80,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marque" and "marquis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Marne vs marque". 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 #80,907 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.