Which to use
“mâche” and “manches” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,456
- “mâche” frequency rank
- #5,580
- “manches” frequency rank
- 35036
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mâche | manches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vulgaire de Valerianella locusta, plante potagère de la famille des Caprifoliaceae (caprifoliacées) que l'on mange en salade. | Pluriel de manche. |
Where the eye mixes mâche and manches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mâche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against manches's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mâche with manches
A purely visual mix-up. mâche (\mɑʃ\) and manches (\mɑ̃ʃ\) 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 35036, 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\. manches is at rank #5,580, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃ʃ\.
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 35036, this pair ranks #279,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mâche vs manches
Shared letters: cehm. Private to "mâche": â. Private to "manches": ans.
"mâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "manches" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- manches ← amnches · macnhes · mancches · mancehs · manchess · manchhes · manchse · manhces
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mâche" and "manches" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mâche" vs "manches" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mâche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "manches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #279,629 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mâche" and "manches" 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 #279,629 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.