Which to use
“mâche” and “math” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,456
- “mâche” frequency rank
- #11,994
- “math” frequency rank
- 41450
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mâche | math |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vulgaire de Valerianella locusta, plante potagère de la famille des Caprifoliaceae (caprifoliacées) que l'on mange en salade. | Variante orthographique de maths. |
Where the eye mixes mâche and math
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mâche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against math's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mâche and math
A purely visual mix-up. mâche (\mɑʃ\) and math (\mat\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41450, 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\. math is at rank #11,994, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mat\.
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 41450, this pair ranks #233,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mâche vs math
Shared letters: hm. Private to "mâche": ceâ. Private to "math": at.
"mâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "math" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- math ← amth · maht · mathh · matth · mmath · mtah
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mâche" and "math" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "mâche" or "math" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mâche" and "math" 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 "math" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mâche" and "math" 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 #233,003 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.