Which to use
“maître” and “maîtrise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #946
- “maître” frequency rank
- #3,276
- “maîtrise” frequency rank
- 4222
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maître | maîtrise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui exerce son autorité. | Qualité de maître, en parlant des métiers. |
Where the eye mixes maître and maîtrise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. maître runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against maîtrise's 8 (CVVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between maître and maîtrise
A purely visual mix-up. maître (\mɛtʁ\) and maîtrise (\mɛ.tʁiz\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maître is recorded at frequency rank #946, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛtʁ\. maîtrise is at rank #3,276, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛ.tʁiz\.
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 4222, this pair ranks #432,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maître vs maîtrise
Shared letters: aemrtî. Private to "maître": -. Private to "maîtrise": is.
"maître" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "maîtrise" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maître" and "maîtrise" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "maître" vs "maîtrise" - 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 "maître" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maîtrise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maître" and "maîtrise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maîtrise vs martyrisé". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #432,155 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.