Which to use
“mâcher” is a verb and “mèches” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,876
- “mâcher” frequency rank
- #20,508
- “mèches” frequency rank
- 50384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mâcher | mèches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Broyer un aliment ou un objet à l’aide des dents et de la mâchoire. | Pluriel de mèche. |
Where the eye mixes mâcher and mèches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mâcher and mèches follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mâcher with mèches
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mâcher is \ma.ʃe\ while mèches is \mɛʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50384, 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\. mèches is at rank #20,508, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛʃ\.
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 50384, this pair ranks #163,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mâcher vs mèches
Shared letters: cehm. Private to "mâcher": râ. Private to "mèches": sè.
"mâcher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mèches" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mâcher" and "mèches" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "mâcher" or "mèches" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mâcher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mèches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mâcher" and "mèches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mâcher vs mahé". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #163,061 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.