Which to use
“mâcher” is a verb and “mahé” is a postp - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,876
- “mâcher” frequency rank
- #44,035
- “mahé” frequency rank
- 73911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mâcher | mahé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Broyer un aliment ou un objet à l’aide des dents et de la mâchoire. | Dans, dedans. |
Where the eye mixes mâcher and mahé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mâcher runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against mahé's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mâcher and mahé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mâcher is \ma.ʃe\ while mahé is \ma.ˈhe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs postp), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mâcher is recorded at frequency rank #29,876, classified as averb, pronounced \ma.ʃe\. 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 73911, this pair ranks #38,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mâcher vs mahé
Shared letters: hm. Private to "mâcher": cerâ. Private to "mahé": aé.
"mâcher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mahé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mâcher" for "mahé" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "mâcher" or "mahé" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mâcher" 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 #38,899 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mâcher" and "mahé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mahé vs MWh". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #38,899 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.