Which to use
“machine” and “maline” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,599
- “machine” frequency rank
- #46,280
- “maline” frequency rank
- 47879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machine | maline |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Engin, instrument propre à faire mouvoir, à tirer, lever, traîner, lancer quelque chose, ou à mettre en œuvre un agent naturel, comme le feu, l’air, l’eau, l’électricité, le gaz, ou toute source d’énergie afin de produire un résultat. | Grandes marées qui ont lieu à la nouvelle et à la pleine lune, et dont les plus considérables arrivent aux équinoxes. On l’emploie surtout au pluriel. |
Where the eye mixes machine and maline
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. machine (\ma.ʃin\) and maline (\ma.lin\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
machine is recorded at frequency rank #1,599, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.ʃin\. maline is at rank #46,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.lin\.
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 47879, this pair ranks #183,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of machine vs maline
Shared letters: aeimn. Private to "machine": ch. Private to "maline": l.
"machine" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "maline" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "machine" and "maline" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "machine" or "maline"?
What to do next
You've compared "machine" and "maline". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "machine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maline" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machine" and "maline" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maline vs marlin". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.