# mace

> English word · Noun · IPA /meɪs/ · frequency rank #18,879

## Definitions
1. A heavy fighting club.
2. A ceremonial form of this weapon.
3. A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.
4. An officer who carries a mace as a token of authority.
5. A knobbed mallet used by curriers to make leather supple when dressing it.
6. A billiard cue.

## Etymology
From Middle English mace, borrowed from Old French mace, mache, from Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea, matia, (compare Italian mazza, Spanish maza), probably from Proto-West Germanic *mattjō (“cutting tool, hoe”).

## Easily confused with
- **ME** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-me)
- **MC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mc)
- **may** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-may)
- **man** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-man)
- **map** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-map)
- **mad** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mad)
- **max** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-max)
- **mar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mar)
- **mat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mat)
- **mic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mic)
- **mag** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mag)
- **mao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mao)
- **mal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mal)
- **mai** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mai)
- **moe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-moe)
- **mah** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mah)
- **mam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mam)
- **mak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mak)
- **Mau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mau)
- **mee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mace-vs-mee)

## Common misspellings (5)
`amce`, `macce`, `maec`, `mcae`, `mmace`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/mace