Which to use
“malgré” is a preposition and “maline” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #556
- “malgré” frequency rank
- #46,280
- “maline” frequency rank
- 46836
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malgré | maline |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Contre le vouloir de quelqu’un, contre le gré de. | Grandes marées qui ont lieu à la nouvelle et à la pleine lune, et dont les plus considérables arrivent aux équinoxes. On l’emploie surtout au pluriel. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set malgré and maline 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: malgré is \mal.ɡʁe\ while maline is \ma.lin\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malgré is recorded at frequency rank #556, classified as aprep, pronounced \mal.ɡʁe\. maline is at rank #46,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.lin\.
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 46836, this pair ranks #191,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of malgré vs maline
Shared letters: alm. Private to "malgré": gré. Private to "maline": ein.
"malgré" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "maline" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- maline ← amline · mailne · malinne · malline · malnie · mlaine · mmaline
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "malgré" and "maline" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "malgré" or "maline"?
Remembering malgré vs maline
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “malgré”; for a noun, it's “maline”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “malgré” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable