Which to use
“maintienne” and “maintient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,000
- “maintienne” frequency rank
- #6,215
- “maintient” frequency rank
- 49215
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maintienne | maintient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de maintenir. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de maintenir. |
Where the eye mixes maintienne and maintient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. maintienne runs 10 letters (CVVCCVVCCV) against maintient's 9 (CVVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maintienne with maintient
A purely visual mix-up. maintienne (\mɛ̃.tjɛn\) and maintient (\mɛ̃.tjɛ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maintienne is recorded at frequency rank #43,000, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛ̃.tjɛn\. maintient is at rank #6,215, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɛ̃.tjɛ̃\.
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 49215, this pair ranks #172,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maintienne vs maintient
Shared letters: aeimnt. Private to "maintienne": -. Private to "maintient": -.
"maintienne" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVVCCV · "maintient" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maintienne ← amintienne · mainitenne · mainntienne · mainteinne · maintiene · maintienen · maintinene · mainttienne
- maintient ← amintient · mainitent · mainntient · mainteint · maintiennt · maintientt · maintietn · maintinet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maintienne" for "maintient" ever safe?
Frequency check: "maintienne" vs "maintient" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maintienne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maintient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,491 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maintienne" and "maintient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maintienne vs martienne". 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 #172,491 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.