mancevsmazeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mance is a noun, maze is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mance” is a noun and “maze” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,727
“mance” frequency rank
#40,371
“maze” frequency rank
86098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mance maze
Definition Manche d’un vêtement. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de mazer.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
mance
4 ch
maze

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mance is \ˈman.t͡ʃə\ while maze is \maz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86098, 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\. maze is at rank #40,371, tagged as averb, pronounced \maz\.

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 86098, this pair ranks #10,231 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mance vs maze

Shared letters: aem. Private to "mance": cn. Private to "maze": z.

"mance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "maze" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manceamnce · macne · mancce · manec · mannce · mmance · mnace
  • mazeamze · maez · mazze · mmaze · mzae

Frequency comparison

mance#45,727
maze#40,371

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mance" and "maze" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mance" is a noun and "maze" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mance" or "maze"?
"maze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,371 in our French list, against #45,727 for "mance". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mance vs maze

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mance”; for a verb, it's “maze”.
  • 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list