Which to use
“maux” and “métaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,412
- “maux” frequency rank
- #7,346
- “métaux” frequency rank
- 13758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maux | métaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mal. | Pluriel de métal. |
Where the eye mixes maux and métaux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maux runs 4 letters (CVVC) against métaux's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between maux and métaux
A purely visual mix-up. maux (\mo\) and métaux (\me.to\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maux is recorded at frequency rank #6,412, classified as anoun, pronounced \mo\. métaux is at rank #7,346, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.to\.
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 13758, this pair ranks #399,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maux vs métaux
Shared letters: amux. Private to "maux": -. Private to "métaux": té.
"maux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "métaux" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maux ← amux · mauxx · maxu · mmaux · muax
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maux" and "métaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "maux" or "métaux" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "maux" and "métaux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "métaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,670 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maux" and "métaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maux vs mud". 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 #399,670 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.