Which to use
“magot” and “matou” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,999
- “magot” frequency rank
- #45,729
- “matou” frequency rank
- 88728
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | magot | matou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gros singe sans queue, du genre des macaques. | Chat mâle qui n’est pas châtré, éventuellement employé par l’homme pour la reproduction. |
Where the eye mixes magot and matou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. magot (CVCVC) and matou (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: magot vs matou
A purely visual mix-up. magot (\ma.ɡo\) and matou (\ma.tu\) 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 88728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
magot is recorded at frequency rank #42,999, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ɡo\. matou is at rank #45,729, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.tu\.
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 88728, this pair ranks #6,606 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of magot vs matou
Shared letters: amot. Private to "magot": g. Private to "matou": u.
"magot" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "matou" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "magot" and "matou" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "magot" vs "matou" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "magot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "matou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,606 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "magot" and "matou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "matou vs mito". 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 #6,606 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.