Which to use
“maille” and “maple” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,248
- “maille” frequency rank
- #23,931
- “maple” frequency rank
- 42179
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maille | maple |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des boucles que forment des fils croisés ou noués en un point et qui constituent un tissu plus ou moins lâche. | Érable. |
Where the eye mixes maille and maple
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between maille and maple
A purely visual mix-up. maille (\mɑj\) and maple (\meɪ.pəl\) 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 42179, 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\. maple is at rank #23,931, tagged as anoun, pronounced \meɪ.pəl\.
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 42179, this pair ranks #227,618 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maille vs maple
Shared letters: aelm. Private to "maille": i. Private to "maple": p.
"maille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "maple" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maille" and "maple" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "maille" or "maple" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "maille" and "maple" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maple" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,618 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maille" and "maple" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maël vs maple". 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 #227,618 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.