Which to use
“machin” is a noun and “marin” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,738
- “machin” frequency rank
- #3,936
- “marin” frequency rank
- 14674
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machin | marin |
|---|---|---|
| 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). | Qui appartient à la mer. |
Where the eye mixes machin and marin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. machin runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against marin's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses machin with marin
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: machin is \ma.ʃɛ̃\ while marin is \ma.ʁɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14674, 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\. marin is at rank #3,936, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ma.ʁɛ̃\.
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 14674, this pair ranks #395,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of machin vs marin
Shared letters: aimn. Private to "machin": ch. Private to "marin": r.
"machin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "marin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "machin" and "marin" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "machin" vs "marin" - which ranks higher?
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 "machin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #395,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machin" and "marin" 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 #395,671 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.