Which to use
“manquer” and “masquer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,206
- “manquer” frequency rank
- #13,210
- “masquer” frequency rank
- 16416
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | manquer | masquer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faillir ; tomber en faute. | Mettre un masque à quelqu’un. |
Where the eye mixes manquer and masquer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between manquer and masquer
A purely visual mix-up. manquer (\mɑ̃.ke\) and masquer (\mas.ke\) 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 “manquer” becomes s in “masquer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16416, 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\. masquer is at rank #13,210, tagged as averb, pronounced \mas.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 16416, this pair ranks #387,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of manquer vs masquer
Shared letters: aemqru. Private to "manquer": n. Private to "masquer": s.
"manquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "masquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "manquer" for "masquer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "manquer" vs "masquer" - which ranks higher?
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 "manquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "manquer" and "masquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masquent vs masquer". 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 #387,948 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.