Which to use
“manquer” is a verb and “manques” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,206
- “manquer” frequency rank
- #8,882
- “manques” frequency rank
- 12088
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | manquer | manques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faillir ; tomber en faute. | Pluriel de manque. |
Where the eye mixes manquer and manques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between manquer and manques
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: manquer is \mɑ̃.ke\ while manques is \mɑ̃k\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “manquer” becomes s in “manques”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
manquer is recorded at frequency rank #3,206, classified as averb, pronounced \mɑ̃.ke\. manques is at rank #8,882, 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 12088, this pair ranks #406,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of manquer vs manques
Shared letters: aemnqu. Private to "manquer": r. Private to "manques": s.
"manquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "manques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "manquer" and "manques" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "manquer" or "manques" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "manquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "manques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "manquer" and "manques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maniaques vs manques". 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 #406,636 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.