Which to use
“marais” and “marks” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,846
- “marais” frequency rank
- #19,341
- “marks” frequency rank
- 26187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marais | marks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Étendue de terrain périodiquement inondée ou continuellement humide, recouverte d’une nappe d’eau peu profonde. | Pluriel de mark. |
Where the eye mixes marais and marks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between marais and marks
A purely visual mix-up. marais (\ma.ʁɛ\) and marks (\maʁk\) 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 26187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marais is recorded at frequency rank #6,846, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʁɛ\. marks is at rank #19,341, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁk\.
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 26187, this pair ranks #336,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marais vs marks
Shared letters: amrs. Private to "marais": i. Private to "marks": k.
"marais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "marks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "marais" and "marks" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "marais" or "marks"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "marais" and "marks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "marais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marais" and "marks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macros vs marks". 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 #336,610 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.