Which to use
“macron” and “micro” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,141
- “macron” frequency rank
- #2,683
- “micro” frequency rank
- 3824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | macron | micro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Diacritique de l’alphabet latin, grec ou cyrillique, qui prend la forme d’une barre horizontale (‹ ◌̄ ›) que l’on place au-dessus d’une lettre pour indiquer une abbréviation, une qualité phonétique ou un ton distinct ; par exemple dans certaines transcriptions au-dessus d’une lettre de voyelle pour indiquer qu’elle est longue comme ā, ē, ī, ō, ū et ȳ, dans la transcription pinyin de la langue chinoise indiquant le ton plat, ou premier ton comme ā, ē, ī, ō, ū et ǖ. | Microphone. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set macron and micro apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
macron and micro form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
macron is recorded at frequency rank #1,141, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.kʁɔ̃\. micro is at rank #2,683, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.kʁo\.
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 3824, this pair ranks #433,125 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "macron" and "micro" be used interchangeably?
Remembering macron vs micro
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “macron” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable