markovsmaskTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,617
“marko” frequency rank
#36,486
“mask” frequency rank
71103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marko mask
Definition Marque. Masque.

Where the eye mixes marko and mask

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
marko
4 ch
mask

Why the eye confuses marko with mask

A purely visual mix-up. marko (\ˈmar.ko\) and mask (\mɑːsk\) 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 71103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marko is recorded at frequency rank #34,617, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈmar.ko\. mask is at rank #36,486, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɑːsk\.

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 71103, this pair ranks #48,798 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of marko vs mask

Shared letters: akm. Private to "marko": or. Private to "mask": s.

"marko" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mask" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • markoamrko · makro · markko · marok · marrko · mmarko · mrako
  • maskamsk · maks · maskk · massk · mmask · msak

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marko" for "mask" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈmar.ko\ versus \mɑːsk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "marko" vs "mask" - which ranks higher?
"marko" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,617 in our French list, against #36,486 for "mask". 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 "marko" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mask" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,798 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marko" and "mask" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mask vs MSG". 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 #48,798 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