makivsmarksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,449
“maki” frequency rank
#19,341
“marks” frequency rank
61790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maki marks
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. Pluriel de mark.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
maki
5 ch
marks

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. maki (\ma.ki\) and marks (\maʁk\) 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 61790, 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\. marks is at rank #19,341, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁk\.

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 61790, this pair ranks #90,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maki vs marks

Shared letters: akm. Private to "maki": i. Private to "marks": rs.

"maki" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "marks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makiamki · maik · makki · mkai · mmaki
  • marksamrks · makrs · markks · markss · marrks · marsk · mmarks · mraks

Frequency comparison

maki#42,449
marks#19,341

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maki" and "marks" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ma.ki\ versus \maʁk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maki" or "marks"?
"marks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,341 in our French list, against #42,449 for "maki". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maki vs marks

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