Which to use
“maximal” and “maximales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,507
- “maximal” frequency rank
- #26,435
- “maximales” frequency rank
- 40942
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maximal | maximales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui appartient à un maximum. | Féminin pluriel de maximal. |
Same sound, different letters: maximal vs maximales
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. maximal runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against maximales's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - maximal and maximales
This is the hard kind. maximal and maximales are pronounced identically (\mak.si.mal\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “maximal” sits inside “maximales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maximal is recorded at frequency rank #14,507, classified as anadj, pronounced \mak.si.mal\. maximales is at rank #26,435, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mak.si.mal\.
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 40942, this pair ranks #236,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maximal vs maximales
Shared letters: ailmx. Private to "maximal": -. Private to "maximales": es.
"maximal" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "maximales" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maximal" and "maximales" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "maximal" or "maximales"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "maximal" / "maximales". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "maximal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maximales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maximal" and "maximales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maximales 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 #236,786 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.