maîtrisentvsmaîtrisesConfusable pair

Quick tell: maîtrisent is a verb, maîtrises is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maîtrisent” is a verb and “maîtrises” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,523
“maîtrisent” frequency rank
#32,905
“maîtrises” frequency rank
60428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maîtrisent maîtrises
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de maîtriser. Pluriel de maîtrise.

Where the eye mixes maîtrisent and maîtrises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. maîtrisent runs 10 letters (CVVCCVCVCC) against maîtrises's 9 (CVVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
maîtrisent
9 ch
maîtrises

Visual trap between maîtrisent and maîtrises

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maîtrisent is \mɛ.tʁiz\ while maîtrises is \me.tʁiz\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maîtrisent is recorded at frequency rank #27,523, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛ.tʁiz\. maîtrises is at rank #32,905, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.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 60428, this pair ranks #97,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maîtrisent vs maîtrises

Shared letters: aeimrstî. Private to "maîtrisent": n. Private to "maîtrises": -.

"maîtrisent" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCVCC  ·  "maîtrises" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maîtrisent" for "maîtrises" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maîtrisent" is a verb and "maîtrises" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "maîtrisent" vs "maîtrises" - which ranks higher?
"maîtrisent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,523 in our French list, against #32,905 for "maîtrises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "maîtrisent" and "maîtrises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maîtrisent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maîtrises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maîtrisent" and "maîtrises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maîtrises vs maîtrisez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #97,642 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list