makesvsmalusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,884
“makes” frequency rank
#24,666
“malus” frequency rank
66550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature makes malus
Definition Pluriel de make. Pénalité financière à laquelle sont soumis les assurés ayant trop d’accidents.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set makes and malus apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
makes
5 ch
malus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. makes (\ˈmeɪks\) and malus (\ma.lys\) 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 66550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

makes is recorded at frequency rank #41,884, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈmeɪks\. malus is at rank #24,666, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.lys\.

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 66550, this pair ranks #67,315 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of makes vs malus

Shared letters: ams. Private to "makes": ek. Private to "malus": lu.

"makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "malus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makesamkes · maeks · makess · makkes · makse · mkaes · mmakes
  • malusamlus · mallus · malsu · maluss · mauls · mlaus · mmalus

Frequency comparison

makes#41,884
malus#24,666

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "makes" and "malus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈmeɪks\ versus \ma.lys\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "makes" or "malus"?
"malus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,666 in our French list, against #41,884 for "makes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering makes vs malus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “makes” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list