modusvsmucusTell them apart

Which to use

“modus” and “mucus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,659
“modus” frequency rank
#23,915
“mucus” frequency rank
55574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature modus mucus
Definition The arrangement of, or mode of expressing, the terms of a contract or conveyance. A slippery secretion from the lining of the mucous membranes.

Where the eye mixes modus and mucus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
modus
5 ch
mucus

Look-alike desk: modus vs mucus

A purely visual mix-up. modus (/ˈməʊdəs/) and mucus (/ˈmjuːkəs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

modus is recorded at frequency rank #31,659, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈməʊdəs/. mucus is at rank #23,915, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmjuːkəs/.

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 55574, this pair ranks #132,600 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of modus vs mucus

Shared letters: msu. Private to "modus": do. Private to "mucus": c.

"modus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mucus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modusmdous · mmodus · moddus · modsu · moduss · mouds · omdus
  • mucusmcuus · mmucus · muccus · mucsu · mucuss · muucs · umcus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "modus" and "mucus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈməʊdəs/ versus /ˈmjuːkəs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "modus" or "mucus" show up more?
"mucus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,915 in our English list, against #31,659 for "modus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "modus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mucus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #132,600 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "modus" and "mucus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "magus vs modus". 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 #132,600 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list