Which to use
“maire” is a noun and “maîtres” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,142
- “maire” frequency rank
- #4,083
- “maîtres” frequency rank
- 5225
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maire | maîtres |
|---|---|---|
| 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). | Masculin pluriel de maître. |
Where the eye mixes maire and maîtres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maire runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against maîtres's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: maire vs maîtres
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maire is \mɛʁ\ while maîtres is \mɛtʁ\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5225, 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\. maîtres is at rank #4,083, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɛtʁ\.
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 5225, this pair ranks #429,592 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maire vs maîtres
Shared letters: aemr. Private to "maire": i. Private to "maîtres": stî.
"maire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "maîtres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maire ← amire · maier · mairre · marie · miare · mmaire
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maire" for "maîtres" ever safe?
Frequency check: "maire" vs "maîtres" - 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 "maire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maîtres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,592 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maire" and "maîtres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs maire". 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 #429,592 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.