Which to use
“mahé” is a postp and “maïs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,035
- “mahé” frequency rank
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- 50884
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mahé | maïs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans, dedans. | Nom vernaculaire de Zea mays subsp. mays, — et de ses cultivars —, plante herbacée de la famille des Poaceae (ou Poacées ou Graminées), originaire du Mexique et du Guatemala, à tige droite et aux feuilles lancéolées, et que l’on cultive comme plante fourragère ou pour ses graines. |
Where the eye mixes mahé and maïs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mahé (CVCV) and maïs (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between mahé and maïs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mahé is \ma.ˈhe\ while maïs is \ma.is\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (postp vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mahé is recorded at frequency rank #44,035, classified as apostp, pronounced \ma.ˈhe\. maïs is at rank #6,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.is\.
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 50884, this pair ranks #159,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mahé vs maïs
Shared letters: am. Private to "mahé": hé. Private to "maïs": sï.
"mahé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mahé" and "maïs" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "mahé" or "maïs" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mahé" and "maïs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mahé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maïs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #159,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mahé" and "maïs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mahé vs MWh". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #159,195 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.