Which to use
“machins” and “martins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,338
- “machins” frequency rank
- #29,436
- “martins” frequency rank
- 62774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machins | martins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de machin. | Pluriel de martin. |
Where the eye mixes machins and martins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. machins and martins follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: machins vs martins
A purely visual mix-up. machins (\ma.ʃɛ̃\) and martins (\maʁ.tɛ̃\) 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 62774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
machins is recorded at frequency rank #33,338, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃɛ̃\. martins is at rank #29,436, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.tɛ̃\.
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 62774, this pair ranks #85,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of machins vs martins
Shared letters: aimns. Private to "machins": ch. Private to "martins": rt.
"machins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "martins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "machins" and "martins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "machins" or "martins" show up more?
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 "machins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "martins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machins" and "martins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Martigny vs martins". 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 #85,371 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.