malformed
/ˌmælˈfɔːmd/
"malformed" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“malformed” is an uncommon English word, ranked #59,522 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #59,522
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Not formed correctly; misshapen; deformed.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | malformed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌmælˈfɔːmd/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #59,522 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “malformed” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for malformed is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌmælˈfɔːmd/. Corpus data places it at rank #59,522 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Not formed correctly; misshapen; deformed.".
No misspelling variants are generated for malformed in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From mal- + formed. The correct English form is malformed, spelled M-A-L-F-O-R-M-E-D.
Definition
- 1Not formed correctly; misshapen; deformed.
Etymology
From mal- + formed.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
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Using “malformed”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-L-F-O-R-M-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌmælˈfɔːmd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.