maquillévsmouilléWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“maquillé” and “mouillé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,485
“maquillé” frequency rank
#12,622
“mouillé” frequency rank
49107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maquillé mouillé
Definition Qui porte un maquillage. Qui est imbibé ou recouvert de gouttes de liquide, généralement de l’eau ; humide.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maquillé and mouillé apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
maquillé
7 ch
mouillé

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. maquillé (\ma.ki.je\) and mouillé (\mu.je\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maquillé is recorded at frequency rank #36,485, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.ki.je\. mouillé is at rank #12,622, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mu.je\.

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 49107, this pair ranks #173,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maquillé vs mouillé

Shared letters: ilmué. Private to "maquillé": aq. Private to "mouillé": o.

"maquillé" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "mouillé" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV

Frequency comparison

maquillé#36,485
mouillé#12,622

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maquillé" and "mouillé" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ma.ki.je\ versus \mu.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maquillé" or "mouillé"?
"mouillé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,622 in our French list, against #36,485 for "maquillé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maquillé vs mouillé

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maquillé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list