malignavsmalignosTell them apart

Which to use

“maligna” and “malignos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,728
“maligna” frequency rank
#28,833
“malignos” frequency rank
58561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maligna malignos
Definition Forma del femenino de maligno. Forma del plural de maligno.

Where the eye mixes maligna and malignos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
maligna
8 ch
malignos

Why the eye confuses maligna with malignos

A purely visual mix-up. maligna ([maˈliɣ̞na]) and malignos ([maˈliɣ̞nos]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maligna is recorded at frequency rank #29,728, classified as anadj, pronounced [maˈliɣ̞na]. malignos is at rank #28,833, tagged as anadj, pronounced [maˈliɣ̞nos].

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 58561, this pair ranks #66,015 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maligna vs malignos

Shared letters: agilmn. Private to "maligna": -. Private to "malignos": os.

"maligna" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "malignos" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malignaamligna · mailgna · malgina · maligan · maliggna · malignna · malinga · malligna
  • malignosamlignos · mailgnos · malginos · maliggnos · malignnos · malignoss · malignso · maligons

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maligna" for "malignos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maˈliɣ̞na] versus [maˈliɣ̞nos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maligna" vs "malignos" - which ranks higher?
"malignos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,833 in our Spanish list, against #29,728 for "maligna". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maligna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "malignos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,015 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maligna" and "malignos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maligna vs Melina". 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 #66,015 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list