Which to use
“mahé” is a postp and “mass” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,035
- “mahé” frequency rank
- #16,414
- “mass” frequency rank
- 60449
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mahé | mass |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans, dedans. | Variante orthographique de maß. |
Where the eye mixes mahé and mass
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mahé and mass
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mahé is \ma.ˈhe\ while mass is \maːs\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60449, 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\. mass is at rank #16,414, tagged as averb, pronounced \maːs\.
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 60449, this pair ranks #97,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mahé vs mass
Shared letters: am. Private to "mahé": hé. Private to "mass": s.
"mahé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mass ← amss · mmass · msas
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mahé" and "mass" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "mahé" or "mass" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mahé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #97,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mahé" and "mass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mahé vs MWh". 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 #97,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.