maillonsvsmaisonsConfusable pair

Which to use

“maillons” and “maisons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,037
“maillons” frequency rank
#1,483
“maisons” frequency rank
45520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maillons maisons
Definition Pluriel de maillon. Pluriel de maison.

Where the eye mixes maillons and maisons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. maillons runs 8 letters (CVVCCVCC) against maisons's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
maillons
7 ch
maisons

Look-alike desk: maillons vs maisons

A purely visual mix-up. maillons (\mɑ.jɔ̃\) and maisons (\mɛ.zɔ̃\) 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 45520, 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\. maisons is at rank #1,483, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛ.zɔ̃\.

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 45520, this pair ranks #202,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maillons vs maisons

Shared letters: aimnos. Private to "maillons": l. Private to "maisons": -.

"maillons" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC  ·  "maisons" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maillons ← amillons · maillnos · maillonns · maillonss · maillosn · mailolns · mailons · malilons
  • maisons ← amisons · maiosns · maisnos · maisonns · maisonss · maisosn · maissons · masions

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maillons" and "maisons" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mɑ.jɔ̃\ versus \mɛ.zɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maillons" or "maisons"?
"maisons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,483 in our French list, against #44,037 for "maillons". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "maisons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #202,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maillons" and "maisons" 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 #202,149 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list