Which to use
“mains” and “man” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #753
- “mains” frequency rank
- #2,835
- “man” frequency rank
- 3588
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mains | man |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de main. | Larve du hanneton. |
Where the eye mixes mains and man
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mains with man
A purely visual mix-up. mains (\mɛ̃\) and man (\mɑ̃\) 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 3588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mains is recorded at frequency rank #753, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛ̃\. man is at rank #2,835, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃\.
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 3588, this pair ranks #433,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mains vs man
Shared letters: amn. Private to "mains": is. Private to "man": -.
"mains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "man" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mains ← amins · mainns · mainss · maisn · manis · mians · mmains
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mains" and "man" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mains" vs "man" - 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 "mains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "man" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mains" and "man" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "man vs MWh". 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 #433,670 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.