mariéesvsmaximesTell them apart

Quick tell: mariées is a adjective, maximes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mariées” is an adjective and “maximes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,178
“mariées” frequency rank
#42,456
“maximes” frequency rank
58634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mariées maximes
Definition Féminin pluriel de marié. Pluriel de maxime.

Where the eye mixes mariées and maximes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mariées (CVCVVVC) and maximes (CVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
mariées
7 ch
maximes

Look-alike desk: mariées vs maximes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mariées is \ma.ʁje\ while maximes is \mak.sim\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mariées is recorded at frequency rank #16,178, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.ʁje\. maximes is at rank #42,456, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mak.sim\.

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 58634, this pair ranks #107,860 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mariées vs maximes

Shared letters: aeims. Private to "mariées": ré. Private to "maximes": x.

"mariées" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "maximes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maximes ← amximes · maixmes · maxiems · maximess · maximmes · maximse · maxmies · maxximes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mariées" and "maximes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mariées" is an adjective and "maximes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mariées" or "maximes"?
"mariées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,178 in our French list, against #42,456 for "maximes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "mariées" and "maximes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mariées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maximes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #107,860 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mariées" and "maximes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manies vs maximes". 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 #107,860 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