ma

symbol

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“ma” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #93) as a symbol. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#93
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Symbole du préfixe myria-, signifiant 10⁴.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ma · ma · French

ma · rank #93 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #93
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH autres

Nearest frequency peer: autres (-2 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “ma”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “ma” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ma vs me
50% similar
ma vs mm
50% similar
ma vs mi
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ma
PropertyValue
Headwordma
LanguageFrench
Part of speechSymbol
Letters2
Frequency rank#93
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ma” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). ma lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ma is neighbouring look-alikes ("me", "mm", …), not just typos; it is asymbol. Frequency #93 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Gloss: "Symbole du préfixe myria-, signifiant 10⁴.".

ma doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "me", "mm", "mi", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is ma, spelled M-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Symbole du préfixe myria-, signifiant 10⁴.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ma appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Tableau des multiples et sous-multiples décimaux PUISSANCE DE 10 PRÉFIXE À METTRE SYMBOLE À METTRE […] 10⁵ 100.000 hectokilo. hk. 10⁴ 10.000 myria. ma. […] 10⁻⁴ 0,000.1 décimilli. dm. 10⁻⁵ 0,000.01 centimilli. cm.
  2. ⁵ On trouvait encore naguère le préfixe hectokilo = 10⁵ [symbole : hk], légal de 1919 à 1961. De même, le préfixe myria [symb. : ma], du grec murias, 10 000, n’est plus autorisé. On le trouvait dans le myriamètre, et dans le myriagauss, ancien nom du tesla. Il ne survit guère que dans les ondes myriamétriques, dont les longueurs d’onde sont de l’ordre de…

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ma"?
"ma" is spelled M-A.
What does "ma" mean?
As a symbol, "ma" means: Symbole du préfixe myria-, signifiant 10⁴.
What words are commonly confused with "ma"?
"ma" is commonly confused with "me", "mm", "mi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "ma" come from?
"ma" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

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Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list