mlsvsMMATell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,677
“mls” frequency rank
#19,072
“MMA” frequency rank
43749
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mls MMA
Definition Friandise, gourmandise, chose bonne à manger. « Arts martiaux mixtes », combat libre.

Where the eye mixes mls and MMA

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mls
3 ch
MMA

Why the eye confuses mls with MMA

A purely visual mix-up. mls (\ml̩s\) and MMA (\ɛm.ɛm.a\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mls is recorded at frequency rank #24,677, classified as anoun, pronounced \ml̩s\. MMA is at rank #19,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛm.ɛm.a\.

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 43749, this pair ranks #215,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mls vs MMA

Shared letters: m. Private to "mls": ls. Private to "MMA": a.

"mls" · 3 letters · shape CCC  ·  "MMA" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mls" for "MMA" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ml̩s\ versus \ɛm.ɛm.a\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mls" or "MMA"?
"MMA" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,072 in our French list, against #24,677 for "mls". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mls" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "MMA" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mls" and "MMA" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mls vs MWh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #215,726 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