Which to use
“maçon” is an adjective and “mayor” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,438
- “maçon” frequency rank
- #42,458
- “mayor” frequency rank
- 57896
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maçon | mayor |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui appartient au métier des maçons ou leur est comparable. | Agent seigneurial détenteur d’une charge dont les attributions peuvent varier selon les régions et les époques. |
Where the eye mixes maçon and mayor
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. maçon (CVCVC) and mayor (CVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: maçon vs mayor
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maçon is \ma.sɔ̃\ while mayor is \ma.jɔʁ\. 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 57896, 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\. mayor is at rank #42,458, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.jɔʁ\.
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 57896, this pair ranks #112,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maçon vs mayor
Shared letters: amo. Private to "maçon": nç. Private to "mayor": ry.
"maçon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mayor" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mayor ← amyor · maoyr · mayorr · mayro · mayyor · mmayor · myaor
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maçon" for "mayor" ever safe?
Which is more common, "maçon" or "mayor"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maçon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mayor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #112,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maçon" and "mayor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manor vs mayor". 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 #112,287 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.