maladievsmélodieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“maladie” and “mélodie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,117
“maladie” frequency rank
#10,911
“mélodie” frequency rank
12028
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maladie mélodie
Definition Problème de santé chez un être vivant qui se traduit par une baisse des capacités physiques ou par un dysfonctionnement, une altération du métabolisme. Suite de sons d’où résulte un chant agréable et régulier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maladie and mélodie apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
maladie
7 ch
mélodie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. maladie (\ma.la.di\) and mélodie (\me.lɔ.di\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maladie is recorded at frequency rank #1,117, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.la.di\. mélodie is at rank #10,911, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.lɔ.di\.

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 12028, this pair ranks #406,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maladie vs mélodie

Shared letters: deilm. Private to "maladie": a. Private to "mélodie": .

"maladie" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "mélodie" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maladieamladie · maaldie · maladdie · maladei · malaide · maldaie · malladie · mlaadie

Frequency comparison

maladie#1,117
mélodie#10,911

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maladie" and "mélodie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ma.la.di\ versus \me.lɔ.di\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maladie" or "mélodie"?
"maladie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,117 in our French list, against #10,911 for "mélodie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maladie vs mélodie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maladie” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list