Which to use
“maïs” and “mami” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #45,158
- “mami” frequency rank
- 52007
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | mami |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Nourrisson, petit enfant. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and mami
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: maïs vs mami
A purely visual mix-up. maïs (\ma.is\) and mami (\ma.mi\) 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 52007, 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\. mami is at rank #45,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.mi\.
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 52007, this pair ranks #150,846 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs mami
Shared letters: am. Private to "maïs": sï. Private to "mami": i.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mami" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mami ← ammi · mammi · mmai · mmami
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maïs" and "mami" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "maïs" or "mami" show up more?
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 "maïs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mami" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,846 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maïs" and "mami" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mami vs memo". 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 #150,846 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.