Which to use
“maligne” is a noun and “malignes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,588
- “maligne” frequency rank
- #44,564
- “malignes” frequency rank
- 64152
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maligne | malignes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne fine et rusée. | Féminin pluriel de malin. |
Same sound, different letters: maligne vs malignes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. maligne runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against malignes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: maligne vs malignes
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: maligne and malignes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ma.liɲ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “maligne” sits inside “malignes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maligne is recorded at frequency rank #19,588, classified as anoun, pronounced \ma.liɲ\. malignes is at rank #44,564, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ma.liɲ\.
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 64152, this pair ranks #78,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maligne vs malignes
Shared letters: aegilmn. Private to "maligne": -. Private to "malignes": s.
"maligne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "malignes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maligne" and "malignes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "maligne" vs "malignes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "maligne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malignes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #78,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maligne" and "malignes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malignes 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 #78,441 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.