Which to use
“maïs” and “man” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #2,835
- “man” frequency rank
- 9684
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | man |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Larve du hanneton. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and man
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: maïs vs man
A purely visual mix-up. maïs (\ma.is\) and man (\mɑ̃\) 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 9684, 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\. man is at rank #2,835, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃\.
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 9684, this pair ranks #415,797 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs man
Shared letters: am. Private to "maïs": sï. Private to "man": n.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "man" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maïs" and "man" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "maïs" or "man" 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 "man" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,797 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maïs" and "man" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs maïs". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #415,797 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.