Which to use
“maire” and “mile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,142
- “maire” frequency rank
- #15,682
- “mile” frequency rank
- 16824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maire | mile |
|---|---|---|
| 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). | Unité de mesure de longueur anglo-saxonne, valant 1,760 yards (verges), soit 5,280 pieds, ou encore exactement 1 609,344 mètres. Son symbole est mi. |
Where the eye mixes maire and mile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between maire and mile
A purely visual mix-up. maire (\mɛʁ\) and mile (\majl\) 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 16824, 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\. mile is at rank #15,682, tagged as anoun, pronounced \majl\.
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 16824, this pair ranks #386,085 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maire vs mile
Shared letters: eim. Private to "maire": ar. Private to "mile": l.
"maire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "mile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maire" and "mile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "maire" or "mile"?
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 "mile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #386,085 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maire" and "mile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mile vs mito". 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 #386,085 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.