masquentvsmasquerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#48,659
“masquent” frequency rank
#13,210
“masquer” frequency rank
61869
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature masquent masquer
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de masquer. Mettre un masque à quelqu’un.

Where the eye mixes masquent and masquer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. masquent runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against masquer's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
masquent
7 ch
masquer

Why the eye confuses masquent with masquer

A purely visual mix-up. masquent (\mask\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61869, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

masquent is recorded at frequency rank #48,659, classified as averb, pronounced \mask\. 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 61869, this pair ranks #90,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of masquent vs masquer

Shared letters: aemqsu. Private to "masquent": nt. Private to "masquer": r.

"masquent" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "masquer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • masquent ← amsquent · maqsuent · masqeunt · masqquent · masquennt · masquentt · masquetn · masqunet
  • masquer ← amsquer · maqsuer · masqeur · masqquer · masquerr · masqure · massquer · masuqer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "masquent" and "masquer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mask\ versus \mas.ke\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "masquent" or "masquer" show up more?
"masquer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,210 in our French list, against #48,659 for "masquent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "masquent" 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 #90,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "masquent" and "masquer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masquant 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 #90,007 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