mad

\mæd\

/\mæd\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“mad” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #13,833) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#13,833
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fou.

Corpus desk

Index FR-mad · mad · French

mad · rank #13,833 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,833
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH Léopold

Nearest frequency peer: Léopold (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “mad”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “mad” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

mad vs me
33% similar
mad vs mm
33% similar
mad vs mi
33% similar

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

Key facts for mad
PropertyValue
Headwordmad
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\mæd\
Letters3
Frequency rank#13,833
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mad” sits in French frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).mad lands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for mad is neighbouring look-alikes ("me", "mm", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced \mæd\. Frequency #13,833 among 5,038 “M” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

mad has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "me", "mm", "mi", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is mad, spelled M-A-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fou.
  2. 2
    ( au Royaume-Uni) Fâché, fâchée, en colère.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. What we’re doing is mad. We must be crazy.
  2. They laughed at me, and called me mad! But I showed them. My invention works!

Synonyms

aberrantangryagitatedcrazyloopyscatterbrained

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mad"?
"mad" is spelled M-A-D. The IPA pronunciation is \mæd\.
What does "mad" mean?
As an adjective, "mad" means: Fou.
What words are commonly confused with "mad"?
"mad" is commonly confused with "me", "mm", "mi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mad"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mad" is \mæd\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mad" come from?
"mad" is a French 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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

NFL#13,849obs#13,851pou#13,869pus#13,881

What to do next

You've looked up "mad". Here's where to go from here.

  • "mad" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "me". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #13,833 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list