molevsmoveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mole is a noun, move is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mole” is a noun and “move” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,745
“mole” frequency rank
#447
“move” frequency rank
12192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mole move
Definition A naevus, a pigmented, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy spot on the skin. To change place or posture; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another.

Where the eye mixes mole and move

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

4 ch
mole
4 ch
move

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mole is /məʊl/ while move is /muːv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “mole” becomes v in “move”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mole is recorded at frequency rank #11,745, classified as anoun, pronounced /məʊl/. move is at rank #447, tagged as averb, pronounced /muːv/.

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 12192, this pair ranks #482,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mole vs move

Shared letters: emo. Private to "mole": l. Private to "move": v.

"mole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "move" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • molemloe · mmole · moel · molle · omle
  • movemmove · moev · movve · mvoe · omve

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mole" and "move" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mole" is a noun and "move" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mole" or "move"?
"move" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #447 in our English list, against #11,745 for "mole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list