Which to use
“maillons” and “mamelons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,037
- “maillons” frequency rank
- #38,410
- “mamelons” frequency rank
- 82447
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maillons | mamelons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de maillon. | Pluriel de mamelon. |
Where the eye mixes maillons and mamelons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses maillons with mamelons
A purely visual mix-up. maillons (\mɑ.jɔ̃\) and mamelons (\mam.lɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82447, 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\. mamelons is at rank #38,410, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mam.lɔ̃\.
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 82447, this pair ranks #16,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maillons vs mamelons
Shared letters: almnos. Private to "maillons": i. Private to "mamelons": e.
"maillons" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "mamelons" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maillons" for "mamelons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "maillons" vs "mamelons" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "maillons" and "mamelons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maillons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mamelons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maillons" and "mamelons" 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 #16,723 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.