Which to use
“marquer” and “masquer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,778
- “marquer” frequency rank
- #13,210
- “masquer” frequency rank
- 16988
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marquer | masquer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Distinguer une chose d’une autre au moyen d’une marque. | Mettre un masque à quelqu’un. |
Where the eye mixes marquer and masquer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: marquer vs masquer
A purely visual mix-up. marquer (\maʁ.ke\) and masquer (\mas.ke\) 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 - r in “marquer” becomes s in “masquer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16988, 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\. masquer is at rank #13,210, tagged as averb, pronounced \mas.ke\.
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 16988, this pair ranks #385,335 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marquer vs masquer
Shared letters: aemqru. Private to "marquer": -. Private to "masquer": s.
"marquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "masquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marquer" for "masquer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "marquer" vs "masquer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "masquer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,335 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marquer" and "masquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masquent vs masquer". 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 #385,335 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.