Français homophones

Maes/mas/mass/masse/masses

"Maes" is a name; "mas" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #101 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "Maes" arrives as a name, while "mas" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "ma" then splits - "Maes" (4 letters) vs "mas" (3).
Shared stem "ma" then splits - "Maes" (4 letters) vs "mass" (4).
Shared stem "ma" then splits - "Maes" (4 letters) vs "masse" (5).
Shared stem "ma" then splits - "Maes" (4 letters) vs "masses" (6).
Shared stem "mas" then splits - "mas" (3 letters) vs "mass" (4).
Shared stem "mas" then splits - "mas" (3 letters) vs "masse" (5).
Shared stem "mas" then splits - "mas" (3 letters) vs "masses" (6).
Shared stem "mass" then splits - "mass" (4 letters) vs "masse" (5).
Shared stem "mass" then splits - "mass" (4 letters) vs "masses" (6).
Shared stem "masse" then splits - "masse" (5 letters) vs "masses" (6).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across Maes, mas, mass, masse, masses: ams. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

Maes
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory aems · private e
mas
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ams · no private letters vs siblings
mass
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory ams · no private letters vs siblings
masse
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCV
Inventory aems · private e
masses
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCVC
Inventory aems · private e

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "Maes" when you mean: Nom de famille néerlandais.
Write "mas" when you mean: Ferme dans le midi de la France.
Write "mass" when you mean: Variante orthographique de maß.
Write "masse" when you mean: Amas de plusieurs parties qui font corps ensemble.
Write "masses" when you mean: Pluriel de masse.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

Maes ← maess · meas · mmaes
mass ← amss · mmass · msas
masse ← amsse · mase · mases · mmasse · msase
masses ← amsses · masess · massess · massse · mmasses · msases

Each spelling

Maes

name · /\maːs\/ · #39,386 frequency

Nom de famille néerlandais.

mas

noun · /\mas\/ · #9,694 frequency

Ferme dans le midi de la France.

mass

verb · /\maːs\/ · #16,414 frequency

Variante orthographique de maß.

masse

noun · /\mas\/ · #1,528 frequency

Amas de plusieurs parties qui font corps ensemble.

masses

noun · /\mas\/ · #7,461 frequency

Pluriel de masse.