Which to use
“maquis” and “marquis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,192
- “maquis” frequency rank
- #5,582
- “marquis” frequency rank
- 25774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maquis | marquis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Formation végétale arbustive très dense de région méditerranéenne. | Seigneur préposé à la garde des marches, des frontières d’un état. |
Where the eye mixes maquis and marquis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. maquis runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against marquis's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maquis with marquis
A purely visual mix-up. maquis (\ma.ki\) and marquis (\maʁ.ki\) 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 25774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maquis is recorded at frequency rank #20,192, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ki\. marquis is at rank #5,582, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.ki\.
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 25774, this pair ranks #338,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maquis vs marquis
Shared letters: aimqsu. Private to "maquis": -. Private to "marquis": r.
"maquis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "marquis" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maquis" and "marquis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "maquis" or "marquis"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maquis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marquis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maquis" and "marquis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maquis vs moqués". 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 #338,907 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.