majvsMSAWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,249
“maj” frequency rank
#45,745
“MSA” frequency rank
63994
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maj MSA
Definition Major. Mouvement Souveraineté-Association.

Where the eye mixes maj and MSA

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
maj
3 ch
MSA

Why the eye confuses maj with MSA

A purely visual mix-up. maj (\maʒ\) and MSA (\ɛm.ɛs.a\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maj is recorded at frequency rank #18,249, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʒ\. MSA is at rank #45,745, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛm.ɛs.a\.

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 63994, this pair ranks #79,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maj vs MSA

Shared letters: am. Private to "maj": j. Private to "MSA": s.

"maj" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "MSA" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maj" for "MSA" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\maʒ\ versus \ɛm.ɛs.a\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maj" vs "MSA" - which ranks higher?
"maj" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,249 in our French list, against #45,745 for "MSA". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maj" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "MSA" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maj" and "MSA" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "MSA vs MWh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #79,197 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