MaesvsmahéWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Maes is a name, mahé is a postp, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Maes” is a name and “mahé” is a postp - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,386
“Maes” frequency rank
#44,035
“mahé” frequency rank
83421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maes mahé
Definition Nom de famille néerlandais. Dans, dedans.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Maes and mahé apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Maes
4 ch
mahé

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Maes is \maːs\ while mahé is \ma.ˈhe\. 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 postp), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maes is recorded at frequency rank #39,386, classified as aname, pronounced \maːs\. mahé is at rank #44,035, tagged as apostp, pronounced \ma.ˈhe\.

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 83421, this pair ranks #14,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Maes vs mahé

Shared letters: am. Private to "Maes": es. Private to "mahé": .

"Maes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mahé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maesmaess · meas · mmaes

Frequency comparison

Maes#39,386
mahé#44,035

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Maes" and "mahé" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Maes" is a name and "mahé" a postp, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Maes" or "mahé"?
"Maes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,386 in our French list, against #44,035 for "mahé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Maes vs mahé

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Maes”; for a postp, it's “mahé”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Maes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list