maille
\mɑj\
The verdict
“maille” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #18,248 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #18,248
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Chacune des boucles que forment des fils croisés ou noués en un point et qui constituent un tissu plus ou moins lâche.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | maille |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \mɑj\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #18,248 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “maille” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for maille is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \mɑj\. Corpus data places it at rank #18,248 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for maille, with forms such as "amille", "maile", and "mailel". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Mlle", "mile", "mill", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is maille, spelled M-A-I-L-L-E.
Definition
- 1Chacune des boucles que forment des fils croisés ou noués en un point et qui constituent un tissu plus ou moins lâche.
- 2Nœuds faits de corde, de fil, etc., dans les filets. Trame d’un filet.
- 3Ouverture que les nœuds d’un tricot ou d’un filet laissent entre eux.
- 4Ouverture pratiquée dans les lisses du métier à tisser, et qui sert à recevoir les fils de la chaîne.
- 5Élément d'une chaîne métallique, maillon.
- 6Marques, des taches qui paraissent sur les plumes du perdreau, lorsqu’il devient fort.
- 7Aspect chatoyant de la face d’une planche dont la face principale est débitée suivant le plan radial de l’arbre, dans certaines essences de bois.
- 8Fissure qui part du centre d'une pièce de bois et qui s'étend vers la périphérie
- 9Endroit marqué d’une petite tache, d’où sort le fruit, dans les melons et les concombres.
- 10La longueur du plus court cycle d’un graphe.
- 11Zone élémentaire délimitée par les lignes d’un canevas.
- 12Moyenne.
- 13Encore.
- 14Moitié d’un denier, la plus petite pièce de monnaie : « Être sans sou ni maille. »
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amille,maile,mailel,malile,mialle,mmaille
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of maille - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "maille"?
What does "maille" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "maille"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “maille”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is M-A-I-L-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \mɑj\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Mlle” - see the side-by-side comparison. maille vs Mlle
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.