Which to use
“maïs” and “maison” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #235
- “maison” frequency rank
- 7084
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | maison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vernaculaire de Zea mays subsp. mays, — et de ses cultivars —, plante herbacée de la famille des Poaceae (ou Poacées ou Graminées), originaire du Mexique et du Guatemala, à tige droite et aux feuilles lancéolées, et que l’on cultive comme plante fourragère ou pour ses graines. | Bâtiment servant de logis, d’habitation, de demeure. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and maison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. maïs (\ma.is\) and maison (\me.zɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maïs is recorded at frequency rank #6,849, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.is\. maison is at rank #235, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.zɔ̃\.
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 7084, this pair ranks #424,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs maison
Shared letters: ams. Private to "maïs": ï. Private to "maison": ino.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "maison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maison ← amison · maiosn · maisno · maisonn · maisson · masion · miason · mmaison