Which to use
“machin” is a noun and “machina” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,738
- “machin” frequency rank
- #44,032
- “machina” frequency rank
- 54770
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machin | machina |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mot général utilisé pour désigner une notion ou un objet qu’on ne veut pas ou qu’on ne sait pas nommer plus précisément (pour une personne on dit : Machin). | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de machiner. |
Where the eye mixes machin and machina
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. machin runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against machina's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses machin with machina
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: machin is \ma.ʃɛ̃\ while machina is \ma.ʃi.na\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “machin” sits inside “machina”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54770, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
machin is recorded at frequency rank #10,738, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃɛ̃\. machina is at rank #44,032, tagged as averb, pronounced \ma.ʃi.na\.
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 54770, this pair ranks #131,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of machin vs machina
Shared letters: achimn. Private to "machin": -. Private to "machina": -.
"machin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "machina" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "machin" and "machina" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "machin" vs "machina" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "machin" and "machina" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "machin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "machina" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #131,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machin" and "machina" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "machina vs martina". 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 #131,807 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.