Which to use
“mâche” is a noun and “mâcher” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,456
- “mâche” frequency rank
- #29,876
- “mâcher” frequency rank
- 59332
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mâche | mâcher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vulgaire de Valerianella locusta, plante potagère de la famille des Caprifoliaceae (caprifoliacées) que l'on mange en salade. | Broyer un aliment ou un objet à l’aide des dents et de la mâchoire. |
Where the eye mixes mâche and mâcher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mâche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against mâcher's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mâche and mâcher
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mâche is \mɑʃ\ while mâcher is \ma.ʃe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “mâche” sits inside “mâcher”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mâche is recorded at frequency rank #29,456, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑʃ\. mâcher is at rank #29,876, tagged as averb, pronounced \ma.ʃe\.
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 59332, this pair ranks #103,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mâche vs mâcher
Shared letters: cehmâ. Private to "mâche": -. Private to "mâcher": r.
"mâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mâcher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mâche" and "mâcher" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mâche" vs "mâcher" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mâche" and "mâcher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mâche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mâcher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #103,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mâche" and "mâcher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mâche vs mane". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #103,738 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.