maltraitevsmaltraitéeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#45,726
“maltraite” frequency rank
#46,282
“maltraitée” frequency rank
92008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maltraite maltraitée
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif du verbe maltraiter. Participe passé féminin singulier de maltraiter.

Where the eye mixes maltraite and maltraitée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

9 ch
maltraite
10 ch
maltraitée

Why the eye confuses maltraite with maltraitée

A purely visual mix-up. maltraite (\mal.tʁɛt\) and maltraitée (\mal.tʁe.te\) 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 92008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maltraite is recorded at frequency rank #45,726, classified as averb, pronounced \mal.tʁɛt\. maltraitée is at rank #46,282, tagged as averb, pronounced \mal.tʁe.te\.

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 92008, this pair ranks #3,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maltraite vs maltraitée

Shared letters: aeilmrt. Private to "maltraite": -. Private to "maltraitée": é.

"maltraite" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCV  ·  "maltraitée" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maltraiteamltraite · malltraite · malrtaite · maltarite · maltraiet · maltraitte · maltratie · maltriate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maltraite" and "maltraitée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mal.tʁɛt\ versus \mal.tʁe.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maltraite" or "maltraitée"?
"maltraite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,726 in our French list, against #46,282 for "maltraitée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maltraite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maltraitée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maltraite" and "maltraitée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maltraitée vs maltraiter". 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 #3,349 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