Which to use
“mahé” is a postp and “malle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,035
- “mahé” frequency rank
- #18,528
- “malle” frequency rank
- 62563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mahé | malle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans, dedans. | Coffre dont on se sert en voyage pour le transport de ses effets. |
Where the eye mixes mahé and malle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mahé runs 4 letters (CVCV) against malle's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mahé with malle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mahé is \ma.ˈhe\ while malle is \mal\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (postp vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mahé is recorded at frequency rank #44,035, classified as apostp, pronounced \ma.ˈhe\. malle is at rank #18,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mal\.
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 62563, this pair ranks #86,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mahé vs malle
Shared letters: am. Private to "mahé": hé. Private to "malle": el.
"mahé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "malle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- malle ← amlle · malel · mlale · mmalle
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mahé" and "malle" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mahé" or "malle"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mahé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mahé" and "malle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mahé vs MWh". 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
Confusion rank #86,441 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.