Which to use
“mau” is an adjective and “miaou” is an onomatopoeia - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,149
- “mau” frequency rank
- #48,045
- “miaou” frequency rank
- 83194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mau | miaou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mal en point, mal fichu, patraque. | Onomatopée qui exprime le cri du chat ; bruit du miaulement. |
Where the eye mixes mau and miaou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mau runs 3 letters (CVV) against miaou's 5 (CVVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mau with miaou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mau is \maʊ̯\ while miaou is \mja.u\. 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 (adjective vs onomatopoeia), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mau is recorded at frequency rank #35,149, classified as anadj, pronounced \maʊ̯\. miaou is at rank #48,045, tagged as anonomatopoeia, pronounced \mja.u\.
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 83194, this pair ranks #15,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mau vs miaou
Shared letters: amu. Private to "mau": -. Private to "miaou": io.
"mau" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "miaou" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- miaou ← imaou · maiou · miauo · mioau · mmiaou
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mau" and "miaou" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mau" or "miaou"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "miaou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mau" and "miaou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "miaou 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 #15,279 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.