Which to use
“machin” and “machine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,738
- “machin” frequency rank
- #1,599
- “machine” frequency rank
- 12337
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machin | machine |
|---|---|---|
| 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). | Engin, instrument propre à faire mouvoir, à tirer, lever, traîner, lancer quelque chose, ou à mettre en œuvre un agent naturel, comme le feu, l’air, l’eau, l’électricité, le gaz, ou toute source d’énergie afin de produire un résultat. |
Where the eye mixes machin and machine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: machin vs machine
A purely visual mix-up. machin (\ma.ʃɛ̃\) and machine (\ma.ʃin\) 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 extra letter(s) - “machin” sits inside “machine”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12337, 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\. machine is at rank #1,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃin\.
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 12337, this pair ranks #405,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of machin vs machine
Shared letters: achimn. Private to "machin": -. Private to "machine": e.
"machin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "machine" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "machin" for "machine" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "machin" or "machine" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "machin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "machine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machin" and "machine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "machin vs marlin". 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 #405,684 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.