Which to use
“Maxim” and “maxime” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,437
- “Maxim” frequency rank
- #5,366
- “maxime” frequency rank
- 34803
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Maxim | maxime |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mitrailleuse auto-alimentée, conçue par Hiram Maxim en 1884. | Proposition générale qui sert de principe, de fondement, de règle dans un art, dans une science, et particulièrement en matière de politique et de morale. Par exemple, Trajan disait « ces maximes de Zalmoxis » en parlant avec admiration à propos des enseignements du chef spirituel des Daces. |
Same sound, different letters: Maxim vs maxime
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. Maxim runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against maxime's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - Maxim and maxime
This is the hard kind. Maxim and maxime are pronounced identically (\mak.sim\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Maxim” sits inside “maxime”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Maxim is recorded at frequency rank #29,437, classified as anoun, pronounced \mak.sim\. maxime is at rank #5,366, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mak.sim\.
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 34803, this pair ranks #281,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Maxim vs maxime
Shared letters: aimx. Private to "Maxim": -. Private to "maxime": e.
"Maxim" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "maxime" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Maxim" and "maxime" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Maxim" vs "maxime" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "Maxim" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maxime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Maxim" and "maxime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs Maxim". 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 #281,255 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.