Which to use
“malice” and “matrice” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,998
- “malice” frequency rank
- #10,536
- “matrice” frequency rank
- 32534
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malice | matrice |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Inclination à nuire, à mal faire, à causer de la peine. | Utérus, organe creux qui, chez les femmes et les femelles des mammifères, contient le produit de la conception jusqu’à la mise au monde. |
Where the eye mixes malice and matrice
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. malice runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against matrice's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: malice vs matrice
A purely visual mix-up. malice (\ma.lis\) and matrice (\ma.tʁis\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malice is recorded at frequency rank #21,998, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.lis\. matrice is at rank #10,536, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ma.tʁis\.
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 32534, this pair ranks #296,633 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of malice vs matrice
Shared letters: aceim. Private to "malice": l. Private to "matrice": rt.
"malice" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "matrice" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "malice" for "matrice" ever safe?
Frequency check: "malice" vs "matrice" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "malice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "matrice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #296,633 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malice" and "matrice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malice vs maline". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #296,633 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.