Which to use
“maillons” and “maillots” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,037
- “maillons” frequency rank
- #14,309
- “maillots” frequency rank
- 58346
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maillons | maillots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de maillon. | Pluriel de maillot. |
Where the eye mixes maillons and maillots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. maillons and maillots follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses maillons with maillots
A purely visual mix-up. maillons (\mɑ.jɔ̃\) and maillots (\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 a single letter - n in “maillons” becomes t in “maillots”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maillons is recorded at frequency rank #44,037, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ.jɔ̃\. maillots is at rank #14,309, 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 58346, this pair ranks #109,599 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maillons vs maillots
Shared letters: ailmos. Private to "maillons": n. Private to "maillots": t.
"maillons" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "maillots" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maillons" for "maillots" ever safe?
Frequency check: "maillons" vs "maillots" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maillons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maillots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,599 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maillons" and "maillots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maillons vs moellons". 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 #109,599 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.