maîtresvsmontrésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: maîtres is a adjective, montrés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maîtres” is an adjective and “montrés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,083
“maîtres” frequency rank
#19,344
“montrés” frequency rank
23427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maîtres montrés
Definition Masculin pluriel de maître. Participe passé masculin pluriel de montrer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maîtres and montrés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
maîtres
7 ch
montrés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maîtres is \mɛtʁ\ while montrés is \mɔ̃.tʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maîtres is recorded at frequency rank #4,083, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛtʁ\. montrés is at rank #19,344, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɔ̃.tʁe\.

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 23427, this pair ranks #352,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maîtres vs montrés

Shared letters: mrst. Private to "maîtres": aeî. Private to "montrés": noé.

"maîtres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "montrés" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Frequency comparison

maîtres#4,083
montrés#19,344

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maîtres" and "montrés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maîtres" is an adjective and "montrés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maîtres" or "montrés"?
"maîtres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,083 in our French list, against #19,344 for "montrés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maîtres vs montrés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “maîtres”; for a verb, it's “montrés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maîtres” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list