Which to use
“maires” and “marnes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,362
- “maires” frequency rank
- #41,401
- “marnes” frequency rank
- 46763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maires | marnes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de maire. | Pluriel de marne. |
Where the eye mixes maires and marnes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maires (CVVCVC) and marnes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between maires and marnes
A purely visual mix-up. maires (\mɛʁ\) and marnes (\maʁn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maires is recorded at frequency rank #5,362, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛʁ\. marnes is at rank #41,401, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁn\.
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 46763, this pair ranks #192,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maires vs marnes
Shared letters: aemrs. Private to "maires": i. Private to "marnes": n.
"maires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "marnes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maires" and "marnes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "maires" or "marnes"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "maires" and "marnes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marnes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #192,290 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maires" and "marnes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mane vs marnes". 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 #192,290 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.