Which to use
“machine” and “machins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,599
- “machine” frequency rank
- #33,338
- “machins” frequency rank
- 34937
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machine | machins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Pluriel de machin. |
Where the eye mixes machine and machins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. machine (CVCCVCV) and machins (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: machine vs machins
A purely visual mix-up. machine (\ma.ʃin\) and machins (\ma.ʃɛ̃\) 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 a single letter - e in “machine” becomes s in “machins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34937, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
machine is recorded at frequency rank #1,599, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃin\. machins is at rank #33,338, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃɛ̃\.
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 34937, this pair ranks #280,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of machine vs machins
Shared letters: achimn. Private to "machine": e. Private to "machins": s.
"machine" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "machins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "machine" and "machins" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "machine" or "machins"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "machine" and "machins" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "machine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "machins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machine" and "machins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "machina vs machins". 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 #280,331 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.