Which to use
“maille” and “maillot” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,248
- “maille” frequency rank
- #3,775
- “maillot” frequency rank
- 22023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maille | maillot |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des boucles que forment des fils croisés ou noués en un point et qui constituent un tissu plus ou moins lâche. | Lange dont on enveloppe un enfant au berceau. |
Where the eye mixes maille and maillot
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against maillot's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maille with maillot
A purely visual mix-up. maille (\mɑj\) and maillot (\ma.jo\) 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 22023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maille is recorded at frequency rank #18,248, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑj\. maillot is at rank #3,775, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.jo\.
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 22023, this pair ranks #360,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maille vs maillot
Shared letters: ailm. Private to "maille": e. Private to "maillot": ot.
"maille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "maillot" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maille" for "maillot" ever safe?
Which is more common, "maille" or "maillot"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maillot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #360,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maille" and "maillot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maille vs Milla". 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 #360,178 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.