Which to use
“marchés” and “mares” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,528
- “marchés” frequency rank
- #30,698
- “mares” frequency rank
- 33226
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marchés | mares |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de marché. | Pluriel de mare. |
Where the eye mixes marchés and mares
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. marchés runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against mares's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between marchés and mares
A purely visual mix-up. marchés (\maʁ.ʃe\) and mares (\maʁ\) 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 33226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marchés is recorded at frequency rank #2,528, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.ʃe\. mares is at rank #30,698, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ\.
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 33226, this pair ranks #292,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of marchés vs mares
Shared letters: amrs. Private to "marchés": ché. Private to "mares": e.
"marchés" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "mares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mares ← amres · maers · maress · marres · marse · mmares · mraes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marchés" for "mares" ever safe?
Which is more common, "marchés" or "mares"?
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 "marchés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mares" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #292,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marchés" and "mares" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macros vs mares". 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 #292,044 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.