Which to use
“malsain” and “malsaines” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,410
- “malsain” frequency rank
- #41,885
- “malsaines” frequency rank
- 58295
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malsain | malsaines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas sain, qui a en soi le germe de quelque maladie. | Féminin pluriel de malsain. |
Where the eye mixes malsain and malsaines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. malsain runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against malsaines's 9 (CVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between malsain and malsaines
A purely visual mix-up. malsain (\mal.sɛ̃\) and malsaines (\mal.sɛn\) 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 extra letter(s) - “malsain” sits inside “malsaines”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malsain is recorded at frequency rank #16,410, classified as anadj, pronounced \mal.sɛ̃\. malsaines is at rank #41,885, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mal.sɛn\.
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 58295, this pair ranks #109,895 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of malsain vs malsaines
Shared letters: ailmns. Private to "malsain": -. Private to "malsaines": e.
"malsain" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "malsaines" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "malsain" for "malsaines" ever safe?
Frequency check: "malsain" vs "malsaines" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "malsain" and "malsaines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "malsain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malsaines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,895 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malsain" and "malsaines" 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 #109,895 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.