Which to use
“Madère” is a name and “maigre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,257
- “Madère” frequency rank
- #8,733
- “maigre” frequency rank
- 38990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Madère | maigre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Île la plus importante de l’archipel madérien, située à 643 km au nord-ouest du Maroc et appartenant au Portugal. | Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Madère and maigre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Madère is \ma.dɛʁ\ while maigre is \mɛɡʁ\. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Madère is recorded at frequency rank #30,257, classified as aname, pronounced \ma.dɛʁ\. maigre is at rank #8,733, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɛɡʁ\.
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 38990, this pair ranks #251,328 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Madère vs maigre
Shared letters: aemr. Private to "Madère": dè. Private to "maigre": gi.
"Madère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- maigre ← amigre · magire · maiger · maiggre · maigrre · mairge · miagre · mmaigre
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Madère" and "maigre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Madère" or "maigre"?
Remembering Madère vs maigre
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Madère”; for an adjective, it's “maigre”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Madère” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable