manquavsmanqueWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,544
“manqua” frequency rank
#584
“manque” frequency rank
44128
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manqua manque
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de manquer. Absence, défaut, fait de manquer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set manqua and manque apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
manqua
6 ch
manque

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: manqua is \mɑ̃.ka\ while manque is \mɑ̃k\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “manqua” becomes e in “manque”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manqua is recorded at frequency rank #43,544, classified as averb, pronounced \mɑ̃.ka\. 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 44128, this pair ranks #212,842 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of manqua vs manque

Shared letters: amnqu. Private to "manqua": -. Private to "manque": e.

"manqua" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "manque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manquaamnqua · mannqua · manqau · manqqua · manuqa · maqnua · mmanqua · mnaqua
  • manqueamnque · mannque · manqeu · manqque · manuqe · maqnue · mmanque · mnaque

Frequency comparison

manqua#43,544
manque#584

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "manqua" and "manque" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "manqua" is a verb and "manque" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "manqua" or "manque"?
"manque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #584 in our French list, against #43,544 for "manqua". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering manqua vs manque

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “manqua”; for a noun, it's “manque”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “manqua” 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