Which to use
“maquis” is a noun and “masqués” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,192
- “maquis” frequency rank
- #25,040
- “masqués” frequency rank
- 45232
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maquis | masqués |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Formation végétale arbustive très dense de région méditerranéenne. | Masculin pluriel de masqué. |
Where the eye mixes maquis and masqués
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses maquis with masqués
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maquis is \ma.ki\ while masqués is \mas.ke\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45232, 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\. masqués is at rank #25,040, tagged as anadj, 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 45232, this pair ranks #204,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maquis vs masqués
Shared letters: amqsu. Private to "maquis": i. Private to "masqués": é.
"maquis" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "masqués" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maquis ← amquis · maqius · maqquis · maquiss · maqusi · mauqis · mmaquis · mqauis
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maquis" for "masqués" ever safe?
Which is more common, "maquis" or "masqués"?
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 "maquis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masqués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #204,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maquis" and "masqués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masquent vs masqués". 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 #204,333 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.