mala

adj

The verdict

“mala” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #45,440) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#45,440
frequency rank, German
3,571
“M” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - verkehrt, umgekehrt, gegenteilig, entgegengesetzt

Corpus desk

Index DE-mala · mala · German

mala · rank #45,440 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #45,440
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,571
  • PHOTO-FINISH machines

Nearest frequency peer: machines (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „mala“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „mala“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

mala vs ml
50% similar
mala vs man
50% similar
mala vs may
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for mala
PropertyValue
Headwordmala
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
Letters4
Frequency rank#45,440
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „mala“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).malaliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „machines“ (#45,439), „Machbarkeit“ (#45,438), „Mandats“ (#45,442). Unter 3,571 „M“-Lemmata liegt „mala“ bei #45,440. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for mala is neighbouring look-alikes ("ml", "man", …), not just typos; it is anadjective. Frequency #45,440 among 3,571 “M” headwords. Gloss: "verkehrt, umgekehrt, gegenteilig, entgegengesetzt".

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for mala, with forms such as "maal", "malla", and "mlaa". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ml", "man", "may", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is mala, spelled M-A-L-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    verkehrt, umgekehrt, gegenteilig, entgegengesetzt

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how mala appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Turnu ĝin en la malan direkton.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • maal
  • malla
  • mlaa
  • mmala

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mala - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

maal2malla1mlaa2mmala1
Edit distance from "mala"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mala"?
"mala" is spelled M-A-L-A.
What does "mala" mean?
As an adjective, "mala" means: verkehrt, umgekehrt, gegenteilig, entgegengesetzt
What words are commonly confused with "mala"?
"mala" is commonly confused with "ml", "man", "may". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "mala" come from?
"mala" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mala", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list