magretvsmaigreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: magret is a noun, maigre is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#49,201
“magret” frequency rank
#8,733
“maigre” frequency rank
57934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature magret maigre
Definition Filet de viande maigre découpé à partir de la poitrine d’une oie ou d’un canard gras. Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set magret and maigre apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
magret
6 ch
maigre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: magret is \ma.ɡʁɛ\ while maigre is \mɛɡʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

magret is recorded at frequency rank #49,201, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ɡʁɛ\. maigre is at rank #8,733, 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 57934, this pair ranks #112,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of magret vs maigre

Shared letters: aegmr. Private to "magret": t. Private to "maigre": i.

"magret" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • magretamgret · magert · maggret · magrett · magrret · magrte · marget · mgaret
  • maigreamigre · magire · maiger · maiggre · maigrre · mairge · miagre · mmaigre

Frequency comparison

magret#49,201
maigre#8,733

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "magret" and "maigre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "magret" is a noun and "maigre" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "magret" or "maigre"?
"maigre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,733 in our French list, against #49,201 for "magret". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering magret vs maigre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “magret”; for an adjective, it's “maigre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “magret” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list