maintevsmanteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mainte is a adjective, mante is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mainte” is an adjective and “mante” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,723
“mainte” frequency rank
#40,857
“mante” frequency rank
86580
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mainte mante
Definition Féminin singulier de maint. Vêtement de femme, ample et sans manches, qui se porte par dessus les autres vêtements, par temps froids.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mainte and mante apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
mainte
5 ch
mante

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mainte is \mɛ̃t\ while mante is \mɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mainte is recorded at frequency rank #45,723, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛ̃t\. mante is at rank #40,857, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃t\.

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 86580, this pair ranks #9,507 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mainte vs mante

Shared letters: aemnt. Private to "mainte": i. Private to "mante": -.

"mainte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "mante" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mainteaminte · mainet · mainnte · maintte · maitne · manite · miante · mmainte
  • manteamnte · mannte · mantte · matne · mmante · mnate

Frequency comparison

mainte#45,723
mante#40,857

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mainte" and "mante" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mainte" is an adjective and "mante" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mainte" or "mante"?
"mante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,857 in our French list, against #45,723 for "mainte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mainte vs mante

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “mainte”; for a noun, it's “mante”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mainte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list