Which to use
“male” is an adjective and “malgré” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,385
- “male” frequency rank
- #556
- “malgré” frequency rank
- 21941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | male | malgré |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de mal, dans le sens de mauvaise. | Contre le vouloir de quelqu’un, contre le gré de. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set male and malgré apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: male is \mal\ while malgré is \mal.ɡʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
male is recorded at frequency rank #21,385, classified as anadj, pronounced \mal\. malgré is at rank #556, tagged as aprep, pronounced \mal.ɡʁe\.
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 21941, this pair ranks #360,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of male vs malgré
Shared letters: alm. Private to "male": e. Private to "malgré": gré.
"male" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "malgré" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- male ← amle · mael · mlae · mmale
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "male" and "malgré" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "male" or "malgré"?
Remembering male vs malgré
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “male”; for a preposition, it's “malgré”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “male” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable