Which to use
“maternité” and “maturité” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,695
- “maternité” frequency rank
- #6,110
- “maturité” frequency rank
- 15805
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maternité | maturité |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | État, qualité de mère. | État de développement complet des forces intellectuelles et physiques. |
Where the eye mixes maternité and maturité
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. maternité runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against maturité's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between maternité and maturité
A purely visual mix-up. maternité (\ma.tɛʁ.ni.te\) and maturité (\ma.ty.ʁi.te\) 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 15805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maternité is recorded at frequency rank #9,695, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.tɛʁ.ni.te\. maturité is at rank #6,110, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.ty.ʁi.te\.
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 15805, this pair ranks #390,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maternité vs maturité
Shared letters: aimrté. Private to "maternité": en. Private to "maturité": u.
"maternité" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV · "maturité" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maternité" and "maturité" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "maternité" or "maturité" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maternité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maturité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maternité" and "maturité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maternité vs maternités". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #390,778 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.