Which to use
“malin” and “malsain” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,152
- “malin” frequency rank
- #16,410
- “malsain” frequency rank
- 21562
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malin | malsain |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Porté à nuire, à faire du mal à autrui. | Qui n’est pas sain, qui a en soi le germe de quelque maladie. |
Where the eye mixes malin and malsain
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. malin runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against malsain's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses malin with malsain
A purely visual mix-up. malin (\ma.lɛ̃\) and malsain (\mal.sɛ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malin is recorded at frequency rank #5,152, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.lɛ̃\. malsain is at rank #16,410, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mal.sɛ̃\.
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 21562, this pair ranks #362,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of malin vs malsain
Shared letters: ailmn. Private to "malin": -. Private to "malsain": s.
"malin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "malsain" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "malin" and "malsain" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "malin" or "malsain"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "malin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malsain" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #362,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malin" and "malsain" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malsain vs malsains". 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 #362,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.