Which to use
“mauvais” and “mauvaises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #773
- “mauvais” frequency rank
- #3,022
- “mauvaises” frequency rank
- 3795
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mauvais | mauvaises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Défavorable ; qui cause une impression défavorable. | Féminin pluriel de mauvais. |
Where the eye mixes mauvais and mauvaises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mauvais runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against mauvaises's 9 (CVVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mauvais and mauvaises
A purely visual mix-up. mauvais (\mo.vɛ\) and mauvaises (\mɔ.vɛz\) 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) - “mauvais” sits inside “mauvaises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mauvais is recorded at frequency rank #773, classified as anadj, pronounced \mo.vɛ\. mauvaises is at rank #3,022, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.vɛz\.
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 3795, this pair ranks #433,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mauvais vs mauvaises
Shared letters: aimsuv. Private to "mauvais": -. Private to "mauvaises": e.
"mauvais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "mauvaises" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mauvais" and "mauvaises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "mauvais" or "mauvaises" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mauvais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mauvaises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mauvais" and "mauvaises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malais vs mauvais". 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 #433,174 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.