Which to use
“mafias” and “mains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,876
- “mafias” frequency rank
- #753
- “mains” frequency rank
- 47629
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mafias | mains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mafia. | Pluriel de main. |
Where the eye mixes mafias and mains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mafias and mains
A purely visual mix-up. mafias (\ma.fja\) and mains (\mɛ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mafias is recorded at frequency rank #46,876, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.fja\. mains is at rank #753, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛ̃\.
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 47629, this pair ranks #185,443 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mafias vs mains
Shared letters: aims. Private to "mafias": f. Private to "mains": n.
"mafias" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "mains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mafias" and "mains" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "mafias" or "mains" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mafias" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #185,443 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mafias" and "mains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mafias vs manies". 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 #185,443 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.