malheureux

\ma.lœ.ʁø\

/\ma.lœ.ʁø\/ adj

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

The verdict

“malheureux” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,872. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,872
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui porte malheur ; qui annonce ou qui cause du malheur.

Corpus desk

Index FR-malheureux · malheureux · French

malheureux · rank #4,872 · 14 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,872
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH masculin

Nearest frequency peer: masculin (+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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « malheureux »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « malheureux » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

malheureux vs malheureuse
82% similar

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

Key facts for malheureux
PropertyValue
Headwordmalheureux
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ma.lœ.ʁø\
Letters10
Frequency rank#4,872
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « malheureux »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).malheureuxse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « masculin » (#4,873), « Lorraine » (#4,870), « Microsoft » (#4,874). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « malheureux » est au #4,872. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around malheureux (IPA \ma.lœ.ʁø\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #4,872 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for malheureux, with forms such as "amlheureux", "mahleureux", and "malehureux". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "malheureuse", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is malheureux, spelled M-A-L-H-E-U-R-E-U-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui porte malheur ; qui annonce ou qui cause du malheur.
  2. 2
    Qui est funeste, désastreux.
  3. 3
    Qui n’est pas heureux ; qui est frappé par le malheur.
  4. 4
    Qui est misérable, digne de pitié.
  5. 5
    Qui est médiocre, de peu d’importance, négligeable.
  6. 6
    Médiocre, malhabile.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il est né sous une malheureuse étoile.
  2. Il croit que le vendredi est un jour malheureux pour lui.

Synonyms

malchanceuxtriste

Antonyms

bienheureuxchanceuxheureux

This word in other languages

unhappy(English)infeliz(Español)unglücklich(Deutsch)infeliz(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amlheureux
  • mahleureux
  • malehureux
  • malherueux
  • malheuerux
  • malheureuxx
  • malheurexu
  • malheurreux
  • malheuruex
  • malhheureux
  • malhuereux
  • mallheureux
  • mlaheureux
  • mmalheureux

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of malheureux - 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.

amlheureux2mahleureux2malehureux2malherueux2malheuerux2malheureuxx1malheurexu2malheurreux1
Edit distance from "malheureux"

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "malheureux"?
"malheureux" is spelled M-A-L-H-E-U-R-E-U-X. The IPA pronunciation is \ma.lœ.ʁø\.
What does "malheureux" mean?
As an adjective, "malheureux" means: Qui porte malheur ; qui annonce ou qui cause du malheur.
What words are commonly confused with "malheureux"?
"malheureux" is commonly confused with "malheureuse". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "malheureux"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "malheureux" is \ma.lœ.ʁø\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "malheureux" come from?
"malheureux" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "malheureux", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

invitation#4,867intéresser#4,866intervient#4,865industries#4,864

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

Microsoft14 variantsorchestre14 variantsencourager14 variantsromantique14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list