marivsmathWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mari” and “math” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,335
“mari” frequency rank
#11,994
“math” frequency rank
13329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mari math
Definition Homme uni à une autre personne par les liens du mariage, époux. Variante orthographique de maths.

Where the eye mixes mari and math

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mari (CVCV) and math (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
mari
4 ch
math

Visual trap between mari and math

A purely visual mix-up. mari (\ma.ʁi\) and math (\mat\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mari is recorded at frequency rank #1,335, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʁi\. math is at rank #11,994, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mat\.

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 13329, this pair ranks #401,459 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mari vs math

Shared letters: am. Private to "mari": ir. Private to "math": ht.

"mari" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "math" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mariamri · mair · marri · mmari · mrai
  • mathamth · maht · mathh · matth · mmath · mtah

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mari" and "math" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ma.ʁi\ versus \mat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mari" or "math"?
"mari" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,335 in our French list, against #11,994 for "math". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mari" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "math" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,459 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mari" and "math" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "math vs MWh". 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 #401,459 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list