Which to use
“maïs” and “maquis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #20,192
- “maquis” frequency rank
- 27041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | maquis |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Formation végétale arbustive très dense de région méditerranéenne. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and maquis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. maïs runs 4 letters (CVCC) against maquis's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maïs with maquis
A purely visual mix-up. maïs (\ma.is\) and maquis (\ma.ki\) 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 27041, 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\. maquis is at rank #20,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.ki\.
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 27041, this pair ranks #331,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs maquis
Shared letters: ams. Private to "maïs": ï. Private to "maquis": iqu.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "maquis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maquis ← amquis · maqius · maqquis · maquiss · maqusi · mauqis · mmaquis · mqauis
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maïs" and "maquis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "maïs" or "maquis"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maïs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maquis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #331,397 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maïs" and "maquis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maquis vs moqués". 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 #331,397 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.