Which to use
“maid” and “maire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,778
- “maid” frequency rank
- #1,142
- “maire” frequency rank
- 50920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maid | maire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Servant·e, bonne, soubrette, généralement une femme. | Premier officier municipal d’une commune, municipalité ou arrondissement, élu, en France, par les conseillers municipaux à l’issue des élections municipales, en Suisse, soit directement par le corps électoral (Jura), soit chaque année pour une année par le conseil municipal (Genève). |
Where the eye mixes maid and maire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. maid runs 4 letters (CVVC) against maire's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maid with maire
A purely visual mix-up. maid (\med\) and maire (\mɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maid is recorded at frequency rank #49,778, classified as anoun, pronounced \med\. maire is at rank #1,142, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\.
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 50920, this pair ranks #158,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maid vs maire
Shared letters: aim. Private to "maid": d. Private to "maire": er.
"maid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "maire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maid" for "maire" ever safe?
Which is more common, "maid" or "maire"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "maid" and "maire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,915 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maid" and "maire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs mud". 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 #158,915 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.