Which to use
“maire” and “mare” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,142
- “maire” frequency rank
- #11,992
- “mare” frequency rank
- 13134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maire | mare |
|---|---|---|
| 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). | Petit amas d’eau dormante qui se forme naturellement par l’abaissement du sol, ou qu’on produit artificiellement dans les villages et dans les fermes, pour des usages communs ou domestiques. |
Where the eye mixes maire and mare
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: maire vs mare
A purely visual mix-up. maire (\mɛʁ\) and mare (\mɑʁ\) 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 13134, 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\. mare is at rank #11,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑʁ\.
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 13134, this pair ranks #402,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maire vs mare
Shared letters: aemr. Private to "maire": i. Private to "mare": -.
"maire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "mare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maire" and "mare" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "maire" or "mare"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "maire" and "mare" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maire" and "mare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs mare". 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 #402,283 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.