Which to use
“mauvaise” and “mauvaises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,033
- “mauvaise” frequency rank
- #3,022
- “mauvaises” frequency rank
- 4055
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mauvaise | mauvaises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de mauvais. | Féminin pluriel de mauvais. |
Same sound, different letters: mauvaise vs mauvaises
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. mauvaise runs 8 letters (CVVCVVCV) against mauvaises's 9 (CVVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - mauvaise and mauvaises
This is the hard kind. mauvaise and mauvaises are pronounced identically (\mɔ.vɛz\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “mauvaise” sits inside “mauvaises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mauvaise is recorded at frequency rank #1,033, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.vɛz\. 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 4055, this pair ranks #432,576 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mauvaise vs mauvaises
Shared letters: aeimsuv. Private to "mauvaise": -. Private to "mauvaises": -.
"mauvaise" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCV · "mauvaises" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mauvaise" and "mauvaises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mauvaise" vs "mauvaises" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"mauvaise" and "mauvaises" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "mauvaise" 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 #432,576 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mauvaise" and "mauvaises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mauvais vs mauvaises". 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 #432,576 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.