maigres vs maître, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#17,476
“maigres” frequency rank: #946
“maître” frequency rank: 18422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	maigres	maître
Definition	Pluriel de maigre.	Personne qui exerce son autorité.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maigres and maître apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

maigres

6 ch

maître

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maigres is \mɛɡʁ\ while maître is \mɛtʁ\. 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 18422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maigres is recorded at frequency rank #17,476, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛɡʁ\. maître is at rank #946, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛtʁ\.

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 18422, this pair ranks #378,403 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maigres vs maître

Shared letters: aemr. Private to "maigres": gis. Private to "maître": tî.

"maigres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "maître" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

maigres ← amigres · magires · maigers · maiggres · maigress · maigrres · maigrse · mairges

Frequency comparison

maigres#17,476

maître#946

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maigres" and "maître" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maigres" is an adjective and "maître" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "maigres" or "maître"?

"maître" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #946 in our French list, against #17,476 for "maigres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering maigres vs maître

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “maigres”; for a noun, it's “maître”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maigres” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable