Which to use
“manque” is a noun and “marquer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #584
- “manque” frequency rank
- #3,778
- “marquer” frequency rank
- 4362
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | manque | marquer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Absence, défaut, fait de manquer. | Distinguer une chose d’une autre au moyen d’une marque. |
Where the eye mixes manque and marquer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses manque with marquer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: manque is \mɑ̃k\ while marquer is \maʁ.ke\. 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 4362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
manque is recorded at frequency rank #584, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃k\. marquer is at rank #3,778, tagged as averb, pronounced \maʁ.ke\.
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 4362, this pair ranks #431,797 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of manque vs marquer
Shared letters: aemqu. Private to "manque": n. Private to "marquer": r.
"manque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "marquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "manque" and "marquer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "manque" or "marquer" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "manque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,797 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "manque" and "marquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mane vs manque". 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 #431,797 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.