Which to use
“Maxim” and “maximes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,437
- “Maxim” frequency rank
- #42,456
- “maximes” frequency rank
- 71893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Maxim | maximes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mitrailleuse auto-alimentée, conçue par Hiram Maxim en 1884. | Pluriel de maxime. |
Same sound, different letters: Maxim vs maximes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. Maxim runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against maximes's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - Maxim and maximes
This is the hard kind. Maxim and maximes 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Maxim” sits inside “maximes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71893, 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\. maximes is at rank #42,456, 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 71893, this pair ranks #45,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Maxim vs maximes
Shared letters: aimx. Private to "Maxim": -. Private to "maximes": es.
"Maxim" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "maximes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Maxim" for "maximes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Maxim" or "maximes"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "Maxim" / "maximes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "Maxim" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maximes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Maxim" and "maximes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manies vs maximes". 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 #45,901 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.