maladroitvsmaladroiteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: maladroit is a adjective, maladroite is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maladroit” is an adjective and “maladroite” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,310
“maladroit” frequency rank
#20,190
“maladroite” frequency rank
34500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maladroit maladroite
Definition Qui manque d’adresse. Personne qui manque d’adresse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maladroit and maladroite apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
maladroit
10 ch
maladroite

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maladroit is \ma.la.dʁwa\ while maladroite is \ma.la.dʁwat\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “maladroit” sits inside “maladroite”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maladroit is recorded at frequency rank #14,310, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.la.dʁwa\. maladroite is at rank #20,190, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.la.dʁwat\.

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 34500, this pair ranks #283,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maladroit vs maladroite

Shared letters: adilmort. Private to "maladroit": -. Private to "maladroite": e.

"maladroit" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "maladroite" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maladroitamladroit · maaldroit · maladdroit · maladorit · maladriot · maladroitt · maladroti · maladrroit
  • maladroiteamladroite · maaldroite · maladdroite · maladorite · maladriote · maladroiet · maladroitte · maladrotie

Frequency comparison

maladroit#14,310
maladroite#20,190

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maladroit" and "maladroite" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maladroit" is an adjective and "maladroite" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maladroit" or "maladroite"?
"maladroit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,310 in our French list, against #20,190 for "maladroite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maladroit vs maladroite

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “maladroit”; for a noun, it's “maladroite”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maladroit” 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