Which to use
“matou” is a noun and “mau” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,729
- “matou” frequency rank
- #35,149
- “mau” frequency rank
- 80878
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | matou | mau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chat mâle qui n’est pas châtré, éventuellement employé par l’homme pour la reproduction. | Mal en point, mal fichu, patraque. |
Where the eye mixes matou and mau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. matou runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against mau's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses matou with mau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: matou is \ma.tu\ while mau is \maʊ̯\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
matou is recorded at frequency rank #45,729, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.tu\. mau is at rank #35,149, tagged as anadj, pronounced \maʊ̯\.
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 80878, this pair ranks #19,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of matou vs mau
Shared letters: amu. Private to "matou": ot. Private to "mau": -.
"matou" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "mau" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- matou ← amtou · maotu · mattou · matuo · mmatou · mtaou
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "matou" for "mau" ever safe?
Frequency check: "matou" vs "mau" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "matou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "matou" and "mau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "matou vs mito". 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 #19,932 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.