Which to use
“mâche” and “machine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,456
- “mâche” frequency rank
- #1,599
- “machine” frequency rank
- 31055
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mâche | machine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vulgaire de Valerianella locusta, plante potagère de la famille des Caprifoliaceae (caprifoliacées) que l'on mange en salade. | Engin, instrument propre à faire mouvoir, à tirer, lever, traîner, lancer quelque chose, ou à mettre en œuvre un agent naturel, comme le feu, l’air, l’eau, l’électricité, le gaz, ou toute source d’énergie afin de produire un résultat. |
Where the eye mixes mâche and machine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mâche vs machine
A purely visual mix-up. mâche (\mɑʃ\) and machine (\ma.ʃin\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31055, 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\. machine is at rank #1,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃin\.
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 31055, this pair ranks #306,286 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mâche vs machine
Shared letters: cehm. Private to "mâche": â. Private to "machine": ain.
"mâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "machine" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- machine ← amchine · macchine · machhine · machien · machinne · machnie · macihne · mahcine
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mâche" and "machine" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mâche" or "machine"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mâche" and "machine" 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 "machine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #306,286 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mâche" and "machine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mâche vs mane". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #306,286 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.