Which to use
“maïs” and “mist” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #48,049
- “mist” frequency rank
- 54898
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | mist |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Brouillard, brume. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and mist
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. maïs (\ma.is\) and mist (\mɪst\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54898, 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\. mist is at rank #48,049, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɪst\.
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 54898, this pair ranks #130,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs mist
Shared letters: ms. Private to "maïs": aï. Private to "mist": it.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mist" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mist ← imst · misst · mistt · mits · mmist · msit