marocainevsmarocainsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,035
“marocaine” frequency rank
#11,804
“marocains” frequency rank
20839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marocaine marocains
Definition Féminin singulier de marocain. Pluriel de marocain.

Where the eye mixes marocaine and marocains

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. marocaine (CVCVCVVCV) and marocains (CVCVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
marocaine
9 ch
marocains

Visual trap between marocaine and marocains

A purely visual mix-up. marocaine (\ma.ʁɔ.kɛn\) and marocains (\ma.ʁɔ.kɛ̃\) 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 a single letter - e in “marocaine” becomes s in “marocains”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marocaine is recorded at frequency rank #9,035, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.ʁɔ.kɛn\. marocains is at rank #11,804, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ma.ʁɔ.kɛ̃\.

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 20839, this pair ranks #366,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of marocaine vs marocains

Shared letters: acimnor. Private to "marocaine": e. Private to "marocains": s.

"marocaine" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCV  ·  "marocains" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marocaineamrocaine · maorcaine · marcoaine · maroacine · marocaien · marocainne · marocanie · maroccaine
  • marocainsamrocains · maorcains · marcoains · maroacins · marocainns · marocainss · marocaisn · marocanis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marocaine" for "marocains" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ma.ʁɔ.kɛn\ versus \ma.ʁɔ.kɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "marocaine" or "marocains"?
"marocaine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,035 in our French list, against #11,804 for "marocains". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marocaine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marocains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #366,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marocaine" and "marocains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marjolaine vs marocaine". 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 #366,219 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