Which to use
“maïs” and “maths” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #5,784
- “maths” frequency rank
- 12633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | maths |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Mathématiques. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and maths
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses maïs with maths
A purely visual mix-up. maïs (\ma.is\) and maths (\mat\) 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 12633, 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\. maths is at rank #5,784, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mat\.
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 12633, this pair ranks #404,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs maths
Shared letters: ams. Private to "maïs": ï. Private to "maths": ht.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "maths" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maths ← amths · mahts · mathhs · mathss · matsh · matths · mmaths · mtahs
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maïs" and "maths" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "maïs" vs "maths" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
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 "maths" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,434 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maïs" and "maths" 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 #404,434 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.