Which to use
“maquiller” and “mouiller” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,276
- “maquiller” frequency rank
- #16,187
- “mouiller” frequency rank
- 39463
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maquiller | mouiller |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Farder ; recouvrir de fard. | Rendre humide, imbiber un objet de liquide. |
Where the eye mixes maquiller and mouiller
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. maquiller runs 9 letters (CVCVVCCVC) against mouiller's 8 (CVVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: maquiller vs mouiller
A purely visual mix-up. maquiller (\ma.ki.je\) and mouiller (\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 39463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maquiller is recorded at frequency rank #23,276, classified as averb, pronounced \ma.ki.je\. mouiller is at rank #16,187, tagged as averb, 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 39463, this pair ranks #247,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maquiller vs mouiller
Shared letters: eilmru. Private to "maquiller": aq. Private to "mouiller": o.
"maquiller" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC · "mouiller" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maquiller" and "mouiller" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "maquiller" vs "mouiller" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maquiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mouiller" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #247,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maquiller" and "mouiller" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maquillé vs maquiller". 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 #247,767 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.