Which to use
“main” is a noun and “making” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #385
- “main” frequency rank
- #21,685
- “making” frequency rank
- 22070
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | main | making |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie du corps humain située au bout du bras, qui s’étend du poignet jusqu’au bout des doigts, qui sert à la préhension et au toucher. | Participe présent de make. |
Where the eye mixes main and making
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between main and making
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: main is \mɛ̃\ while making is \ˈmeɪ.kɪŋ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
main is recorded at frequency rank #385, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛ̃\. making is at rank #21,685, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈmeɪ.kɪŋ\.
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 22070, this pair ranks #359,955 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of main vs making
Shared letters: aimn. Private to "main": -. Private to "making": gk.
"main" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "making" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "main" and "making" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "main" or "making" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "main" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "making" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,955 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "main" and "making" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "making vs marini". 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 #359,955 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.