Which to use
“Maes” is a name and “Mmes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,386
- “Maes” frequency rank
- #42,466
- “Mmes” frequency rank
- 81852
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Maes | Mmes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom de famille néerlandais. | Pluriel de Mᵐᵉ. |
Where the eye mixes Maes and Mmes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Maes (CVVC) and Mmes (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Maes vs Mmes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Maes is \maːs\ while Mmes is \me.dam\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Maes” becomes m in “Mmes”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81852, 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\. Mmes is at rank #42,466, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.dam\.
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 81852, this pair ranks #17,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Maes vs Mmes
Shared letters: ems. Private to "Maes": a. Private to "Mmes": -.
"Maes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Mmes" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Maes" and "Mmes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Maes" or "Mmes"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Maes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Mmes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Maes" and "Mmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mmes vs muer". 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 #17,923 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.