maîtrisesvsmatricesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“maîtrises” and “matrices” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#32,905
“maîtrises” frequency rank
#28,646
“matrices” frequency rank
61551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maîtrises matrices
Definition Pluriel de maîtrise. Pluriel de matrice.

Where the eye mixes maîtrises and matrices

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
maîtrises
8 ch
matrices

Visual trap between maîtrises and matrices

A purely visual mix-up. maîtrises (\me.tʁiz\) and matrices (\ma.tʁis\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maîtrises is recorded at frequency rank #32,905, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.tʁiz\. matrices is at rank #28,646, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.tʁis\.

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 61551, this pair ranks #91,650 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maîtrises vs matrices

Shared letters: aeimrst. Private to "maîtrises": î. Private to "matrices": c.

"maîtrises" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCVC  ·  "matrices" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matricesamtrices · martices · matirces · matrcies · matricces · matricess · matricse · matriecs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maîtrises" for "matrices" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\me.tʁiz\ versus \ma.tʁis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maîtrises" or "matrices"?
"matrices" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,646 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 "maîtrises" and "matrices" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maîtrises" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "matrices" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #91,650 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maîtrises" and "matrices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maîtrises vs maîtrisez". 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 #91,650 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