Which to use
“makes” and “masses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,884
- “makes” frequency rank
- #7,461
- “masses” frequency rank
- 49345
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | makes | masses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de make. | Pluriel de masse. |
Where the eye mixes makes and masses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. makes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against masses's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses makes with masses
A purely visual mix-up. makes (\ˈmeɪks\) and masses (\mas\) 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 49345, 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\. masses is at rank #7,461, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mas\.
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 49345, this pair ranks #171,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of makes vs masses
Shared letters: aems. Private to "makes": k. Private to "masses": -.
"makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "masses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "makes" and "masses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "makes" or "masses"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "makes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "makes" and "masses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maël vs makes". 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 #171,452 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.