Which to use
“manquais” and “manquons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,949
- “manquais” frequency rank
- #37,911
- “manquons” frequency rank
- 74860
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | manquais | manquons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de manquer. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de manquer. |
Where the eye mixes manquais and manquons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. manquais (CVCCVVVC) and manquons (CVCCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses manquais with manquons
A purely visual mix-up. manquais (\mɑ̃.kɛ\) and manquons (\mɑ̃.kɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
manquais is recorded at frequency rank #36,949, classified as averb, pronounced \mɑ̃.kɛ\. manquons is at rank #37,911, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɑ̃.kɔ̃\.
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 74860, this pair ranks #35,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of manquais vs manquons
Shared letters: amnqsu. Private to "manquais": i. Private to "manquons": o.
"manquais" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC · "manquons" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "manquais" for "manquons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "manquais" vs "manquons" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "manquais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "manquons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "manquais" and "manquons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manqua vs manquais". 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 #35,799 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.