Which to use
“mages” is a noun and “maigres” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,382
- “mages” frequency rank
- #17,476
- “maigres” frequency rank
- 38858
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mages | maigres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mage. | Pluriel de maigre. |
Where the eye mixes mages and maigres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mages runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against maigres's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mages with maigres
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mages is \maʒ\ while maigres is \mɛɡʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mages is recorded at frequency rank #21,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʒ\. maigres is at rank #17,476, 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 38858, this pair ranks #252,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mages vs maigres
Shared letters: aegms. Private to "mages": -. Private to "maigres": ir.
"mages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "maigres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mages" and "maigres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mages" vs "maigres" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maigres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #252,309 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mages" and "maigres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mages vs magret". 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 #252,309 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.