marquesvsmarqueursTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,838
“marques” frequency rank
#17,764
“marqueurs” frequency rank
20602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marques marqueurs
Definition Pluriel de marque. Pluriel de marqueur.

Where the eye mixes marques and marqueurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. marques runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against marqueurs's 9 (CVCCVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
marques
9 ch
marqueurs

Why the eye confuses marques with marqueurs

A purely visual mix-up. marques (\maʁk\) and marqueurs (\maʁ.kœʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marques is recorded at frequency rank #2,838, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁk\. marqueurs is at rank #17,764, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʁ.kœʁ\.

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 20602, this pair ranks #367,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of marques vs marqueurs

Shared letters: aemqrsu. Private to "marques": -. Private to "marqueurs": -.

"marques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "marqueurs" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marques ← amrques · maqrues · marqeus · marqques · marquess · marquse · marrques · maruqes
  • marqueurs ← amrqueurs · maqrueurs · marqeuurs · marqqueurs · marquerus · marqueurrs · marqueurss · marqueusr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "marques" and "marqueurs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\maʁk\ versus \maʁ.kœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "marques" vs "marqueurs" - which ranks higher?
"marques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,838 in our French list, against #17,764 for "marqueurs". 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 "marques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marqueurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #367,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marques" and "marqueurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marques vs moqués". 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 #367,438 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