Which to use
“mauvais” and “mauves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #773
- “mauvais” frequency rank
- #35,594
- “mauves” frequency rank
- 36367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mauvais | mauves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Défavorable ; qui cause une impression défavorable. | Pluriel de mauve. |
Where the eye mixes mauvais and mauves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mauvais runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against mauves's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mauvais and mauves
A purely visual mix-up. mauvais (\mo.vɛ\) and mauves (\mov\) 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 36367, 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\. mauves is at rank #35,594, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mov\.
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 36367, this pair ranks #270,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mauvais vs mauves
Shared letters: amsuv. Private to "mauvais": i. Private to "mauves": e.
"mauvais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "mauves" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mauvais" and "mauves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mauvais" or "mauves"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mauvais" and "mauves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mauvais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mauves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #270,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mauvais" and "mauves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manies vs mauves". 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 #270,115 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.