mexicainvsmexicainesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mexicain” and “mexicaines” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,696
“mexicain” frequency rank
#34,189
“mexicaines” frequency rank
43885
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mexicain mexicaines
Definition Qui se rapporte au Mexique, à ses habitants. Féminin pluriel de mexicain.

Where the eye mixes mexicain and mexicaines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
mexicain
10 ch
mexicaines

Why the eye confuses mexicain with mexicaines

A purely visual mix-up. mexicain (\mɛk.si.kɛ̃\) and mexicaines (\mɛk.si.kɛn\) 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 extra letter(s) - “mexicain” sits inside “mexicaines”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mexicain is recorded at frequency rank #9,696, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɛk.si.kɛ̃\. mexicaines is at rank #34,189, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɛk.si.kɛn\.

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 43885, this pair ranks #214,639 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mexicain vs mexicaines

Shared letters: aceimnx. Private to "mexicain": -. Private to "mexicaines": s.

"mexicain" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "mexicaines" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mexicainemxicain · meixcain · mexciain · mexiacin · mexicainn · mexicani · mexiccain · mexician
  • mexicainesemxicaines · meixcaines · mexciaines · mexiacines · mexicaiens · mexicainess · mexicainnes · mexicainse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mexicain" and "mexicaines" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mɛk.si.kɛ̃\ versus \mɛk.si.kɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mexicain" vs "mexicaines" - which ranks higher?
"mexicain" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,696 in our French list, against #34,189 for "mexicaines". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "mexicain" and "mexicaines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mexicain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mexicaines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #214,639 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mexicain" and "mexicaines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mexicaine vs mexicaines". 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 #214,639 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list