Which to use
“mairies” and “matrices” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,527
- “mairies” frequency rank
- #28,646
- “matrices” frequency rank
- 47173
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mairies | matrices |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mairie. | Pluriel de matrice. |
Where the eye mixes mairies and matrices
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. mairies runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against matrices's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: mairies vs matrices
A purely visual mix-up. mairies (\me.ʁi\) and matrices (\ma.tʁis\) 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 47173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mairies is recorded at frequency rank #18,527, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.ʁi\. matrices is at rank #28,646, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.tʁis\.
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 47173, this pair ranks #188,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mairies vs matrices
Shared letters: aeimrs. Private to "mairies": -. Private to "matrices": ct.
"mairies" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "matrices" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mairies" and "matrices" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mairies" vs "matrices" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mairies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "matrices" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #188,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mairies" and "matrices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mairies vs manies". 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 #188,996 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.