maladroitevsmaladroitsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#20,190
“maladroite” frequency rank
#33,772
“maladroits” frequency rank
53962
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maladroite maladroits
Definition Personne qui manque d’adresse. Masculin pluriel de maladroit.

Where the spellings diverge

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

10 ch
maladroite
10 ch
maladroits

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maladroite is \ma.la.dʁwat\ while maladroits is \ma.la.dʁwa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “maladroite” becomes s in “maladroits”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53962, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maladroite is recorded at frequency rank #20,190, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.la.dʁwat\. maladroits is at rank #33,772, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ma.la.dʁwa\.

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 53962, this pair ranks #137,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maladroite vs maladroits

Shared letters: adilmort. Private to "maladroite": e. Private to "maladroits": s.

"maladroite" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCV  ·  "maladroits" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maladroiteamladroite · maaldroite · maladdroite · maladorite · maladriote · maladroiet · maladroitte · maladrotie
  • maladroitsamladroits · maaldroits · maladdroits · maladorits · maladriots · maladroist · maladroitss · maladroitts

Frequency comparison

maladroite#20,190
maladroits#33,772

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maladroite" and "maladroits" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maladroite" is a noun and "maladroits" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maladroite" or "maladroits"?
"maladroite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,190 in our French list, against #33,772 for "maladroits". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maladroite vs maladroits

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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