Which to use
“maïs” is a noun and “moi” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #73
- “moi” frequency rank
- 6922
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | moi |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Pronom tonique de la première personne du singulier. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and moi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between maïs and moi
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maïs is \ma.is\ while moi is \mwa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6922, 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\. moi is at rank #73, tagged as apron, pronounced \mwa\.
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 6922, this pair ranks #424,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs moi
Shared letters: m. Private to "maïs": asï. Private to "moi": io.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "moi" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maïs" and "moi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "maïs" or "moi" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "maïs" and "moi" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maïs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "moi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maïs" and "moi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs maïs". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #424,810 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.