Which to use
“masque” and “musique” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,938
- “masque” frequency rank
- #450
- “musique” frequency rank
- 4388
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | masque | musique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Art de composer des sons pouvant apparaitre sous différentes formes : une mélodie, une harmonie, un rythme […] ; théorie de cet art, science des sons considérés sous le rapport de la mélodie, l’harmonie, le rythme. |
Where the eye mixes masque and musique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between masque and musique
A purely visual mix-up. masque (\mask\) and musique (\my.zik\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
masque is recorded at frequency rank #3,938, classified as anoun, pronounced \mask\. musique is at rank #450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \my.zik\.
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 4388, this pair ranks #431,736 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of masque vs musique
Shared letters: emqsu. Private to "masque": a. Private to "musique": i.
"masque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "musique" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "masque" for "musique" ever safe?
Which is more common, "masque" or "musique"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "masque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "musique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,736 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "masque" and "musique" 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 #431,736 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.