malignovsmalignosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,890
“maligno” frequency rank
#28,833
“malignos” frequency rank
47723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maligno malignos
Definition Que piensa o actúa con maldad. Forma del plural de maligno.

Where the eye mixes maligno and malignos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
maligno
8 ch
malignos

Why the eye confuses maligno with malignos

A purely visual mix-up. maligno ([maˈliɣ̞no]) 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 extra letter(s) - “maligno” sits inside “malignos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maligno is recorded at frequency rank #18,890, classified as anadj, pronounced [maˈliɣ̞no]. 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 47723, this pair ranks #118,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maligno vs malignos

Shared letters: agilmno. Private to "maligno": -. Private to "malignos": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malignoamligno · mailgno · malgino · maliggno · malignno · maligon · malingo · malligno
  • malignosamlignos · mailgnos · malginos · maliggnos · malignnos · malignoss · malignso · maligons

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maligno" and "malignos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([maˈliɣ̞no] versus [maˈliɣ̞nos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maligno" vs "malignos" - which ranks higher?
"maligno" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,890 in our Spanish list, against #28,833 for "malignos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "maligno" 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 #118,484 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maligno" and "malignos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malignas vs malignos". 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 #118,484 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