malin

\ma.lɛ̃\

/\ma.lɛ̃\/ adj

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

The verdict

“malin” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #5,152. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,152
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Porté à nuire, à faire du mal à autrui.

Corpus desk

Index FR-malin · malin · French

malin · rank #5,152 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,152
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH lord

Nearest frequency peer: lord (-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 « malin »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « malin » 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).

malin vs min
60% similar
malin vs man
60% similar
malin vs mari
60% similar

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

Key facts for malin
PropertyValue
Headwordmalin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ma.lɛ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,152
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « malin »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.malinse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « lord » (#5,151), « miel » (#5,153), « mobilisation » (#5,154). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « malin » est au #5,152. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around malin (IPA \ma.lɛ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #5,152 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for malin, with forms such as "amlin", "mailn", and "malinn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "min", "man", "mari", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is malin, spelled M-A-L-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Porté à nuire, à faire du mal à autrui.
  2. 2
    Mauvais, diabolique.
  3. 3
    Qui présente de graves symptômes ; sérieux.
  4. 4
    Qui se plaît à faire ou à dire des choses malicieuses, seulement pour s’amuser, se divertir.
  5. 5
    Fin, rusé, astucieux, finaud, futé.
  6. 6
    Trop fin, difficile.
  7. 7
    Un peu mal, stupide, bête.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Inquiète, cette dame va consulter des médecins, un psychiatre, puis un prêtre qui lui apprend que sa fille est possédée par un esprit malin.
  2. Son père lui avait dit : "Tu s'ras barbier" Mais il n'aimait pas ce métier Le voici donc en colère Jetant les clients par terre Wo wo wo Méo Penché A son père alors il a dit : "Ça sert à rien pour ces jobs-là, j'suis trop malin"

Synonyms

méchantmalsainmauvaisdiaboliquemalicieuxespiègle

Antonyms

bénin

This word in other languages

malign(English)malvado(Español)boshaft(Deutsch)maligno(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amlin
  • mailn
  • malinn
  • mallin
  • malni
  • mlain
  • mmalin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

amlin2mailn2malinn1mallin1malni2mlain2mmalin1
Edit distance from "malin"

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 "malin"?
"malin" is spelled M-A-L-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ma.lɛ̃\.
What does "malin" mean?
As an adjective, "malin" means: Porté à nuire, à faire du mal à autrui.
What words are commonly confused with "malin"?
"malin" is commonly confused with "min", "man", "mari". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "malin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "malin" is \ma.lɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "malin" come from?
"malin" 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 "malin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

moche#5,155hélas#5,142Hamon#5,140piège#5,167

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

panneau7 variantspassez7 variantstante7 variantsanglo7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list