Which to use
“maîtriser” is a verb and “maîtrises” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,341
- “maîtriser” frequency rank
- #32,905
- “maîtrises” frequency rank
- 40246
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maîtriser | maîtrises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Avoir ou prendre la maîtrise de quelqu’un, de quelque chose, le gouverner en maître, avec une autorité absolue. | Pluriel de maîtrise. |
Where the eye mixes maîtriser and maîtrises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. maîtriser and maîtrises follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between maîtriser and maîtrises
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maîtriser is \me.tʁi.ze\ while maîtrises is \me.tʁiz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “maîtriser” becomes s in “maîtrises”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maîtriser is recorded at frequency rank #7,341, classified as averb, pronounced \me.tʁi.ze\. 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 40246, this pair ranks #241,922 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maîtriser vs maîtrises
Shared letters: aeimrstî. Private to "maîtriser": -. Private to "maîtrises": -.
"maîtriser" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCVC · "maîtrises" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maîtriser" and "maîtrises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "maîtriser" or "maîtrises" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maîtriser" 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 #241,922 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maîtriser" and "maîtrises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maîtrises vs maîtrisez". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #241,922 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.