Which to use
“maçon” is an adjective and “matou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,438
- “maçon” frequency rank
- #45,729
- “matou” frequency rank
- 61167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maçon | matou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui appartient au métier des maçons ou leur est comparable. | Chat mâle qui n’est pas châtré, éventuellement employé par l’homme pour la reproduction. |
Where the eye mixes maçon and matou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. maçon (CVCVC) and matou (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between maçon and matou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maçon is \ma.sɔ̃\ while matou is \ma.tu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maçon is recorded at frequency rank #15,438, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.sɔ̃\. matou is at rank #45,729, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.tu\.
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 61167, this pair ranks #93,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maçon vs matou
Shared letters: amo. Private to "maçon": nç. Private to "matou": tu.
"maçon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "matou" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- matou ← amtou · maotu · mattou · matuo · mmatou · mtaou
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maçon" for "matou" ever safe?
Frequency check: "maçon" vs "matou" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maçon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "matou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maçon" and "matou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "matou vs mito". 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 #93,749 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.