Which to use
“mâche” is a noun and “mahé” is a postp - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,456
- “mâche” frequency rank
- #44,035
- “mahé” frequency rank
- 73491
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mâche | mahé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vulgaire de Valerianella locusta, plante potagère de la famille des Caprifoliaceae (caprifoliacées) que l'on mange en salade. | Dans, dedans. |
Where the eye mixes mâche and mahé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mâche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against mahé's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mâche with mahé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mâche is \mɑʃ\ while mahé is \ma.ˈhe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs postp), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73491, 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\. mahé is at rank #44,035, tagged as apostp, pronounced \ma.ˈhe\.
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 73491, this pair ranks #40,300 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mâche vs mahé
Shared letters: hm. Private to "mâche": ceâ. Private to "mahé": aé.
"mâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mahé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mâche" and "mahé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mâche" or "mahé"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mâche" and "mahé" 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 "mahé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,300 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mâche" and "mahé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mahé vs MWh". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #40,300 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.