MaesvsmakesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#39,386
“Maes” frequency rank
#41,884
“makes” frequency rank
81270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maes makes
Definition Nom de famille néerlandais. Pluriel de make.

Where the eye mixes Maes and makes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Maes runs 4 letters (CVVC) against makes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Maes
5 ch
makes

Look-alike desk: Maes vs makes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Maes is \maːs\ while makes is \ˈmeɪks\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81270, 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\. makes is at rank #41,884, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈmeɪks\.

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 81270, this pair ranks #19,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Maes vs makes

Shared letters: aems. Private to "Maes": -. Private to "makes": k.

"Maes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maes ← maess · meas · mmaes
  • makes ← amkes · maeks · makess · makkes · makse · mkaes · mmakes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Maes" and "makes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Maes" is a name and "makes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Maes" or "makes"?
"Maes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,386 in our French list, against #41,884 for "makes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "makes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,111 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maes" and "makes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maël vs makes". 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 #19,111 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list