manchesvsmanchotWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: manches is a noun, manchot is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“manches” is a noun and “manchot” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,580
“manches” frequency rank
#32,064
“manchot” frequency rank
37644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manches manchot
Definition Pluriel de manche. Qui est estropié ou privé de la main ou du bras.

Where the eye mixes manches and manchot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. manches and manchot follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
manches
7 ch
manchot

Why the eye confuses manches with manchot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: manches is \mɑ̃ʃ\ while manchot is \mɑ̃.ʃo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manches is recorded at frequency rank #5,580, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃ʃ\. manchot is at rank #32,064, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɑ̃.ʃo\.

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 37644, this pair ranks #261,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of manches vs manchot

Shared letters: achmn. Private to "manches": es. Private to "manchot": ot.

"manches" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "manchot" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manchesamnches · macnhes · mancches · mancehs · manchess · manchhes · manchse · manhces
  • manchotamnchot · macnhot · mancchot · manchhot · manchott · manchto · mancoht · manhcot

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "manches" and "manchot" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "manches" is a noun and "manchot" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "manches" or "manchot"?
"manches" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,580 in our French list, against #32,064 for "manchot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "manches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "manchot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "manches" and "manchot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manchon vs manchot". 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 #261,009 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list