Which to use
“machette” and “maquette” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,639
- “machette” frequency rank
- #15,434
- “maquette” frequency rank
- 44073
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machette | maquette |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Long couteau muni d’une lame épaisse mesurant environ 40 centimètres de long et au manche court, servant généralement à se frayer un chemin dans les régions à végétation dense, à ouvrir des fruits à coque dure comme la noix de coco, à tailler les feuilles de palmier, etc., aussi utilisé comme arme blanche. | Modèle réduit d’un ouvrage d’art, esquisse d’ensemble (d’un panneau décoratif, par exemple). |
Where the eye mixes machette and maquette
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. machette (CVCCVCCV) and maquette (CVCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses machette with maquette
A purely visual mix-up. machette (\ma.ʃɛt\) and maquette (\ma.kɛt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44073, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
machette is recorded at frequency rank #28,639, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃɛt\. maquette is at rank #15,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.kɛt\.
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 44073, this pair ranks #213,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of machette vs maquette
Shared letters: aemt. Private to "machette": ch. Private to "maquette": qu.
"machette" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "maquette" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "machette" and "maquette" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "machette" or "maquette" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "machette" and "maquette" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "machette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maquette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #213,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machette" and "maquette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "machette vs machiste". 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 #213,263 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.