Which to use
“marquer” is a verb and “masque” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,778
- “marquer” frequency rank
- #3,938
- “masque” frequency rank
- 7716
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marquer | masque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Distinguer une chose d’une autre au moyen d’une marque. | Faux visage de carton ou d’autre matière, dont on se couvre la figure pour se déguiser, pour accomplir un rituel, dissimuler son identité ou bien par jeu. |
Where the eye mixes marquer and masque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses marquer with masque
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marquer is \maʁ.ke\ while masque is \mask\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marquer is recorded at frequency rank #3,778, classified as averb, pronounced \maʁ.ke\. masque is at rank #3,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mask\.
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 7716, this pair ranks #422,336 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marquer vs masque
Shared letters: aemqu. Private to "marquer": r. Private to "masque": s.
"marquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "masque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marquer" for "masque" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "marquer" or "masque" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "marquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,336 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marquer" and "masque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masque vs masquent". 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 #422,336 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.