Which to use
“maïs” is a noun and “mouais” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,849
- “maïs” frequency rank
- #16,950
- “mouais” frequency rank
- 23799
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maïs | mouais |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Marque un « oui » dubitatif ou insatisfait. |
Where the eye mixes maïs and mouais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between maïs and mouais
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maïs is \ma.is\ while mouais is \mwɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23799, 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\. mouais is at rank #16,950, tagged as anadv, pronounced \mwɛ\.
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 23799, this pair ranks #350,381 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maïs vs mouais
Shared letters: ams. Private to "maïs": ï. Private to "mouais": iou.
"maïs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mouais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mouais ← mmouais · moauis · mouaiss · mouasi · mouias · muoais · omuais
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maïs" and "mouais" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "maïs" vs "mouais" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "mouais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,381 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maïs" and "mouais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "montais vs mouais". 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 #350,381 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.