maigresvsmaîtresConfusable pair

Which to use

“maigres” and “maîtres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,476
“maigres” frequency rank
#4,083
“maîtres” frequency rank
21559
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maigres maîtres
Definition Pluriel de maigre. Masculin pluriel de maître.

Where the eye mixes maigres and maîtres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maigres and maîtres follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
maigres
7 ch
maîtres

Look-alike desk: maigres vs maîtres

A purely visual mix-up. maigres (\mɛɡʁ\) and maîtres (\mɛtʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21559, 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\. maîtres is at rank #4,083, tagged as anadj, 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 21559, this pair ranks #362,540 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maigres vs maîtres

Shared letters: aemrs. Private to "maigres": gi. Private to "maîtres": tî.

"maigres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "maîtres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maigres" and "maîtres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mɛɡʁ\ versus \mɛtʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maigres" vs "maîtres" - which ranks higher?
"maîtres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,083 in our French list, against #17,476 for "maigres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "maigres" and "maîtres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maigres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maîtres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,540 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maigres" and "maîtres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magret vs maigres". 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 #362,540 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