Which to use
“maquis” and “marquise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,192
- “maquis” frequency rank
- #16,412
- “marquise” frequency rank
- 36604
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maquis | marquise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Formation végétale arbustive très dense de région méditerranéenne. | Épouse ou veuve d’un marquis. |
Where the eye mixes maquis and marquise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. maquis runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against marquise's 8 (CVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: maquis vs marquise
A purely visual mix-up. maquis (\ma.ki\) and marquise (\maʁ.kiz\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36604, 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\. marquise is at rank #16,412, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.kiz\.
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 36604, this pair ranks #268,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maquis vs marquise
Shared letters: aimqsu. Private to "maquis": -. Private to "marquise": er.
"maquis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "marquise" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maquis" and "marquise" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "maquis" or "marquise"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maquis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marquise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #268,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maquis" and "marquise" 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 #268,422 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.