Which to use
“mages” and “mains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,382
- “mages” frequency rank
- #753
- “mains” frequency rank
- 22135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mages | mains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mage. | Pluriel de main. |
Where the eye mixes mages and mains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mages vs mains
A purely visual mix-up. mages (\maʒ\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22135, 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\. 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 22135, this pair ranks #359,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mages vs mains
Shared letters: ams. Private to "mages": eg. Private to "mains": in.
"mages" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mages" and "mains" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mages" or "mains"?
Useful next steps
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 "mains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mages" and "mains" 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 #359,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.