malware

\mal.wɛʁ\

/\mal.wɛʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“malware” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #41,398. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#41,398
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Programme ou partie de programme destiné à perturber, altérer ou détruire tout ou partie des éléments logiques indispensables au bon fonctionnement d’un système informatique.

Corpus desk

Index FR-malware · malware · French

malware · rank #41,398 · 10 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #41,398
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH mandarine

Nearest frequency peer: mandarine (+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 « malware »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « malware » 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).

malware vs malgré
57% similar
malware vs malade
71% similar

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

Key facts for malware
PropertyValue
Headwordmalware
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mal.wɛʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#41,398
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « malware »

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « mandarine » (#41,399), « Mallory » (#41,396), « Magda » (#41,395). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « malware » est au #41,398. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around malware (IPA \mal.wɛʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #41,398 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Programme ou partie de programme destiné à perturber, altérer ou détruire tout ou partie des éléments logiques indispensables au bon fonctionnement d’un système informatique.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for malware, with forms such as "amlware", "malawre", and "mallware". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "malgré", "malade", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, 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 malware, spelled M-A-L-W-A-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Programme ou partie de programme destiné à perturber, altérer ou détruire tout ou partie des éléments logiques indispensables au bon fonctionnement d’un système informatique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Mais jusque-là, les principaux accusés étaient les PC individuels, mal protégés et enrôlés incognito dans ces botnets, réseaux d’ordinateurs fantômes passés sous le contrôle d’un malware.

Synonyms

malicielpourriciellogiciel malveillantlogiciel malicieuxlogiciel nuisible

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • amlware
  • malawre
  • mallware
  • malwaer
  • malwarre
  • malwrae
  • malwware
  • mawlare
  • mlaware
  • mmalware

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

amlware2malawre2mallware1malwaer2malwarre1malwrae2malwware1mawlare2
Edit distance from "malware"

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 "malware"?
"malware" is spelled M-A-L-W-A-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mal.wɛʁ\.
What does "malware" mean?
As a noun, "malware" means: Programme ou partie de programme destiné à perturber, altérer ou détruire tout ou partie des éléments logiques indispensables au bon fonctionnement d’un système informatique.
What words are commonly confused with "malware"?
"malware" is commonly confused with "malgré", "malade". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "malware"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "malware" is \mal.wɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "malware" come from?
"malware" 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 "malware", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list