Which to use
“maigre” is an adjective and “maigri” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,733
- “maigre” frequency rank
- #43,540
- “maigri” frequency rank
- 52273
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maigre | maigri |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant. | Participe passé masculin singulier de maigrir. |
Where the eye mixes maigre and maigri
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maigre and maigri follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: maigre vs maigri
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maigre is \mɛɡʁ\ while maigri is \me.ɡʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “maigre” becomes i in “maigri”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maigre is recorded at frequency rank #8,733, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛɡʁ\. maigri is at rank #43,540, tagged as averb, pronounced \me.ɡʁi\.
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 52273, this pair ranks #148,861 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maigre vs maigri
Shared letters: agimr. Private to "maigre": e. Private to "maigri": -.
"maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "maigri" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maigre" and "maigri" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "maigre" or "maigri" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maigri" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,861 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maigre" and "maigri" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maigret vs maigri". 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 #148,861 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.