Which to use
“maire” and “maïs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,142
- “maire” frequency rank
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- 7991
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maire | maïs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Premier officier municipal d’une commune, municipalité ou arrondissement, élu, en France, par les conseillers municipaux à l’issue des élections municipales, en Suisse, soit directement par le corps électoral (Jura), soit chaque année pour une année par le conseil municipal (Genève). | Nom vernaculaire de Zea mays subsp. mays, — et de ses cultivars —, plante herbacée de la famille des Poaceae (ou Poacées ou Graminées), originaire du Mexique et du Guatemala, à tige droite et aux feuilles lancéolées, et que l’on cultive comme plante fourragère ou pour ses graines. |
Where the eye mixes maire and maïs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between maire and maïs
A purely visual mix-up. maire (\mɛʁ\) and maïs (\ma.is\) 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 7991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maire is recorded at frequency rank #1,142, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\. maïs is at rank #6,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.is\.
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 7991, this pair ranks #421,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maire vs maïs
Shared letters: am. Private to "maire": eir. Private to "maïs": sï.
"maire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maire ← amire · maier · mairre · marie · miare · mmaire
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maire" for "maïs" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "maire" or "maïs" 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 "maire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maïs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maire" and "maïs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs maïs". 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 #421,484 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.