magiquevsmasqueConfusable pair

Quick tell: magique is a adjective, masque is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“magique” is an adjective and “masque” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,272
“magique” frequency rank
#3,938
“masque” frequency rank
7210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magique masque
Definition Relatif à la magie. Faux visage de carton ou d’autre matière, dont on se couvre la figure pour se déguiser, pour accomplir un rituel, dissimuler son identité ou bien par jeu.

Where the eye mixes magique and masque

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. magique runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against masque's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
magique
6 ch
masque

Visual trap between magique and masque

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: magique is \ma.ʒik\ while masque is \mask\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

magique is recorded at frequency rank #3,272, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.ʒik\. masque is at rank #3,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mask\.

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 7210, this pair ranks #423,846 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of magique vs masque

Shared letters: aemqu. Private to "magique": gi. Private to "masque": s.

"magique" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "masque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magique ← amgique · maggique · magiqeu · magiqque · magiuqe · magqiue · maigque · mgaique
  • masque ← amsque · maqsue · masqeu · masqque · massque · masuqe · mmasque · msaque

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "magique" and "masque" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "magique" is an adjective and "masque" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "magique" or "masque"?
"magique" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,272 in our French list, against #3,938 for "masque". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "magique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "masque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,846 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "magique" and "masque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masque vs masquent". 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 #423,846 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