Which to use
“manque” and “masque” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #584
- “manque” frequency rank
- #3,938
- “masque” frequency rank
- 4522
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | manque | masque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Absence, défaut, fait de manquer. | Faux visage de carton ou d’autre matière, dont on se couvre la figure pour se déguiser, pour accomplir un rituel, dissimuler son identité ou bien par jeu. |
Where the eye mixes manque and masque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between manque and masque
A purely visual mix-up. manque (\mɑ̃k\) and masque (\mask\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “manque” becomes s in “masque”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
manque is recorded at frequency rank #584, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑ̃k\. masque is at rank #3,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mask\.
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 4522, this pair ranks #431,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of manque vs masque
Shared letters: aemqu. Private to "manque": n. Private to "masque": s.
"manque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "masque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "manque" and "masque" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "manque" vs "masque" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "manque" and "masque" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "manque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "manque" and "masque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masque vs masquent". 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 #431,390 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.