malsainesvsmalsainsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,885
“malsaines” frequency rank
#47,440
“malsains” frequency rank
89325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malsaines malsains
Definition Féminin pluriel de malsain. Masculin pluriel de malsain.

Where the eye mixes malsaines and malsains

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. malsaines runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against malsains's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
malsaines
8 ch
malsains

Visual trap between malsaines and malsains

A purely visual mix-up. malsaines (\mal.sɛn\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malsaines is recorded at frequency rank #41,885, classified as anadj, pronounced \mal.sɛn\. 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 89325, this pair ranks #5,913 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of malsaines vs malsains

Shared letters: ailmns. Private to "malsaines": e. Private to "malsains": -.

"malsaines" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "malsains" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malsaines ← amlsaines · malasines · mallsaines · malsaiens · malsainess · malsainnes · malsainse · malsanies
  • malsains ← amlsains · malasins · mallsains · malsainns · malsainss · malsaisn · malsanis · malsians

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "malsaines" and "malsains" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mal.sɛn\ versus \mal.sɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "malsaines" or "malsains"?
"malsaines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,885 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

Eye-level mix-up between "malsaines" and "malsains" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "malsaines" 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 #5,913 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malsaines" and "malsains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Malouines vs malsaines". 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 #5,913 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