makivsmamyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,449
“maki” frequency rank
#43,543
“mamy” frequency rank
85992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maki mamy
Definition Espèce de la famille des lémuridés vivant à Madagascar, à museau allongé, au pelage épais et laineux et à la queue longue et touffue. Variante de mamie.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maki and mamy apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
maki
4 ch
mamy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. maki (\ma.ki\) and mamy (\ma.mi\) 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 85992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maki is recorded at frequency rank #42,449, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ki\. mamy is at rank #43,543, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.mi\.

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 85992, this pair ranks #10,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maki vs mamy

Shared letters: am. Private to "maki": ik. Private to "mamy": y.

"maki" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mamy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makiamki · maik · makki · mkai · mmaki
  • mamyammy · mammy · mamyy · maym · mmamy · mmay

Frequency comparison

maki#42,449
mamy#43,543

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maki" and "mamy" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ma.ki\ versus \ma.mi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maki" or "mamy"?
"maki" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,449 in our French list, against #43,543 for "mamy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maki vs mamy

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 “maki” 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