Which to use
“maigre” is an adjective and “mare” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,733
- “maigre” frequency rank
- #11,992
- “mare” frequency rank
- 20725
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maigre | mare |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant. | Petit amas d’eau dormante qui se forme naturellement par l’abaissement du sol, ou qu’on produit artificiellement dans les villages et dans les fermes, pour des usages communs ou domestiques. |
Where the eye mixes maigre and mare
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: maigre vs mare
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maigre is \mɛɡʁ\ while mare is \mɑʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20725, 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\. mare is at rank #11,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑʁ\.
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 20725, this pair ranks #366,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maigre vs mare
Shared letters: aemr. Private to "maigre": gi. Private to "mare": -.
"maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "mare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maigre" and "mare" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "maigre" vs "mare" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maigre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #366,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maigre" and "mare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs mare". 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 #366,806 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.