Which to use
“maïs” and “masse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #1,528
- “masse” frequency rank
- 8377
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | masse |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Amas de plusieurs parties qui font corps ensemble. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and masse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. maïs runs 4 letters (CVCC) against masse's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between maïs and masse
A purely visual mix-up. maïs (\ma.is\) and masse (\mas\) 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 8377, 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\. masse is at rank #1,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mas\.
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 8377, this pair ranks #420,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs masse
Shared letters: ams. Private to "maïs": ï. Private to "masse": e.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "masse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- masse ← amsse · mase · mases · mmasse · msase
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maïs" and "masse" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "maïs" vs "masse" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "masse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maïs" and "masse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs maïs". 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 #420,246 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.