Which to use
“macho” and “maçon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,032
- “macho” frequency rank
- #15,438
- “maçon” frequency rank
- 40470
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | macho | maçon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui met sa masculinité en avant de façon considérée comme excessive, voire phallocrate ou misogyne. | Qui appartient au métier des maçons ou leur est comparable. |
Where the eye mixes macho and maçon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses macho with maçon
A purely visual mix-up. macho (\ma.tʃo\) and maçon (\ma.sɔ̃\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
macho is recorded at frequency rank #25,032, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.tʃo\. maçon is at rank #15,438, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ma.sɔ̃\.
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 40470, this pair ranks #240,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of macho vs maçon
Shared letters: amo. Private to "macho": ch. Private to "maçon": nç.
"macho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "maçon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- macho ← amcho · maccho · machho · macoh · mahco · mcaho · mmacho
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "macho" for "maçon" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "macho" or "maçon" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "macho" and "maçon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "macho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maçon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #240,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "macho" and "maçon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macho vs macros". 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 #240,241 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.