Which to use
“maille” and “muraille” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,248
- “maille” frequency rank
- #16,421
- “muraille” frequency rank
- 34669
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maille | muraille |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des boucles que forment des fils croisés ou noués en un point et qui constituent un tissu plus ou moins lâche. | Ensemble de murs clôturant un espace. |
Where the eye mixes maille and muraille
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. maille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against muraille's 8 (CVCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: maille vs muraille
A purely visual mix-up. maille (\mɑj\) and muraille (\my.ʁaj\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34669, 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\. muraille is at rank #16,421, tagged as anoun, pronounced \my.ʁaj\.
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 34669, this pair ranks #282,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maille vs muraille
Shared letters: aeilm. Private to "maille": -. Private to "muraille": ru.
"maille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "muraille" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maille" and "muraille" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "maille" vs "muraille" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
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 "muraille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maille" and "muraille" 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 #282,221 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.