mancevsmanqueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,727
“mance” frequency rank
#584
“manque” frequency rank
46311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mance manque
Definition Manche d’un vêtement. Absence, défaut, fait de manquer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mance and manque apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
mance
6 ch
manque

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mance (\ˈman.t͡ʃə\) and manque (\mɑ̃k\) 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 46311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mance is recorded at frequency rank #45,727, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈman.t͡ʃə\. manque is at rank #584, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃k\.

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 46311, this pair ranks #195,943 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mance vs manque

Shared letters: aemn. Private to "mance": c. Private to "manque": qu.

"mance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "manque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manceamnce · macne · mancce · manec · mannce · mmance · mnace
  • manqueamnque · mannque · manqeu · manqque · manuqe · maqnue · mmanque · mnaque

Frequency comparison

mance#45,727
manque#584

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mance" and "manque" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈman.t͡ʃə\ versus \mɑ̃k\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mance" or "manque"?
"manque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #584 in our French list, against #45,727 for "mance". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mance vs manque

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 “mance” 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