Which to use
“masculin” and “masculine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,873
- “masculin” frequency rank
- #7,594
- “masculine” frequency rank
- 12467
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | masculin | masculine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est de sexe mâle, qui a rapport à ce sexe. | Féminin singulier de masculin. |
Where the eye mixes masculin and masculine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. masculin runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against masculine's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between masculin and masculine
A purely visual mix-up. masculin (\mas.ky.lɛ̃\) and masculine (\mas.ky.lin\) 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 extra letter(s) - “masculin” sits inside “masculine”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
masculin is recorded at frequency rank #4,873, classified as anadj, pronounced \mas.ky.lɛ̃\. masculine is at rank #7,594, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mas.ky.lin\.
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 12467, this pair ranks #405,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of masculin vs masculine
Shared letters: acilmnsu. Private to "masculin": -. Private to "masculine": e.
"masculin" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "masculine" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "masculin" and "masculine" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "masculin" or "masculine" show up more?
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 "masculin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masculine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "masculin" and "masculine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masculine vs masculinité". 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 #405,148 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.