Which to use
“mail” and “max” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,936
- “mail” frequency rank
- #1,704
- “max” frequency rank
- 4640
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | max | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petite masse cylindrique de bois, à long manche, dont on se servait pour jouer en poussant, en chassant avec force une boule de buis. | Maximum. |
Where the eye mixes mail and max
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mail with max
A purely visual mix-up. mail (\maj\) and max (\maks\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4640, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mail is recorded at frequency rank #2,936, classified as anoun, pronounced \maj\. max is at rank #1,704, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maks\.
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 4640, this pair ranks #431,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mail vs max
Shared letters: am. Private to "mail": il. Private to "max": x.
"mail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "max" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mail ← amil · maill · mial · mmail
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mail" for "max" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "mail" or "max" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mail" and "max" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "max" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mail" and "max" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs mail". 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 #431,094 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.