Which to use
“maigre” is an adjective and “matière” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,733
- “maigre” frequency rank
- #825
- “matière” frequency rank
- 9558
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maigre | matière |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui contient peu ou pas de graisse ou de liant. | Ce qui a de la masse et occupe de l’espace. |
Where the eye mixes maigre and matière
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maigre runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against matière's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maigre with matière
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maigre is \mɛɡʁ\ while matière is \ma.tjɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 9558, 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\. matière is at rank #825, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.tjɛʁ\.
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 9558, this pair ranks #416,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maigre vs matière
Shared letters: aeimr. Private to "maigre": g. Private to "matière": tè.
"maigre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "matière" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- maigre ← amigre · magire · maiger · maiggre · maigrre · mairge · miagre · mmaigre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maigre" and "matière" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "maigre" or "matière"?
What to do next
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 "matière" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maigre" and "matière" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magret vs maigre". 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 #416,233 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.