Which to use
“moist” is an adjective and “molest” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,421
- “moist” frequency rank
- #40,346
- “molest” frequency rank
- 51767
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moist | molest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Characterized by the presence of moisture; not dry; slightly wet; damp. | To sexually assault or sexually harass. |
Where the eye mixes moist and molest
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. moist runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against molest's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: moist vs molest
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moist is /mɔɪst/ while molest is /məˈlɛst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moist is recorded at frequency rank #11,421, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɔɪst/. molest is at rank #40,346, tagged as averb, pronounced /məˈlɛst/.
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 51767, this pair ranks #162,699 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of moist vs molest
Shared letters: most. Private to "moist": i. Private to "molest": el.
"moist" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "molest" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moist" for "molest" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "moist" or "molest" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "moist" and "molest" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "moist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "molest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,699 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moist" and "molest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "molest vs molester". 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 #162,699 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.