Which to use
“maillons” and “médaillons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,037
- “maillons” frequency rank
- #37,938
- “médaillons” frequency rank
- 81975
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maillons | médaillons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de maillon. | Pluriel de médaillon. |
Where the eye mixes maillons and médaillons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses maillons with médaillons
A purely visual mix-up. maillons (\mɑ.jɔ̃\) and médaillons (\me.da.jɔ̃\) 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 81975, 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\. médaillons is at rank #37,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.da.jɔ̃\.
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 81975, this pair ranks #17,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maillons vs médaillons
Shared letters: ailmnos. Private to "maillons": -. Private to "médaillons": dé.
"maillons" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "médaillons" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maillons ← amillons · maillnos · maillonns · maillonss · maillosn · mailolns · mailons · malilons
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maillons" and "médaillons" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "maillons" or "médaillons" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maillons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "médaillons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maillons" and "médaillons" 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 #17,690 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.