maigrevsmaistreConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#8,733
“maigre” frequency rank
#32,062
“maistre” frequency rank
40795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maigre maistre
Definition Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant. Maître.

Letter map: maigre vs maistre

Shared letters muted; letters that set maigre and maistre apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. maigre runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against maistre's 7 (CVVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
maigre
7 ch
maistre

Grammar separator: maigre vs maistre

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maigre is anadjective and maistreanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40795, 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\. maistre is at rank #32,062, tagged as anoun.

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 40795, this pair ranks #237,842 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maigre vs maistre

Shared letters: aeimr. Private to "maigre": g. Private to "maistre": st.

"maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "maistre" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maigreamigre · magire · maiger · maiggre · maigrre · mairge · miagre · mmaigre
  • maistreamistre · maisrte · maisstre · maister · maistrre · maisttre · maitsre · masitre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maigre" and "maistre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maigre" is an adjective and "maistre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "maigre" vs "maistre" - which ranks higher?
"maigre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,733 in our French list, against #32,062 for "maistre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "maigre" and "maistre".

  • Full dictionary entry for "maigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maistre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #237,842 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maigre" and "maistre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mainte vs maistre". 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 #237,842 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list