malinsvsmalsainsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“malins” and “malsains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,081
“malins” frequency rank
#47,440
“malsains” frequency rank
61521
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malins malsains
Definition Masculin pluriel de malin. Masculin pluriel de malsain.

Where the eye mixes malins and malsains

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
malins
8 ch
malsains

Look-alike desk: malins vs malsains

A purely visual mix-up. malins (\ma.lɛ̃\) and malsains (\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 61521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malins is recorded at frequency rank #14,081, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.lɛ̃\. malsains is at rank #47,440, 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 61521, this pair ranks #91,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of malins vs malsains

Shared letters: ailmns. Private to "malins": -. Private to "malsains": -.

"malins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "malsains" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malinsamlins · mailns · malinns · malinss · malisn · mallins · malnis · mlains
  • malsainsamlsains · malasins · mallsains · malsainns · malsainss · malsaisn · malsanis · malsians

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "malins" and "malsains" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ma.lɛ̃\ versus \mal.sɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "malins" vs "malsains" - which ranks higher?
"malins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,081 in our French list, against #47,440 for "malsains". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "malins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "malsains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #91,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malins" and "malsains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malsaines 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 #91,804 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list