Which to use
“mails” and “makes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,725
- “mails” frequency rank
- #41,884
- “makes” frequency rank
- 49609
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mails | makes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mail. | Pluriel de make. |
Where the eye mixes mails and makes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mails with makes
A purely visual mix-up. mails (\maj\) and makes (\ˈmeɪks\) 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 49609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mails is recorded at frequency rank #7,725, classified as anoun, pronounced \maj\. makes is at rank #41,884, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈmeɪks\.
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 49609, this pair ranks #169,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mails vs makes
Shared letters: ams. Private to "mails": il. Private to "makes": ek.
"mails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mails" for "makes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mails" vs "makes" - 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 "mails" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "makes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mails" and "makes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maël vs makes". 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 #169,245 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.