moresvsmorrisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,254
“mores” frequency rank
#5,612
“morris” frequency rank
41866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mores morris
Definition A set of moral norms or customs derived from generally accepted practices rather than written laws. A type of pike.

Where the eye mixes mores and morris

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mores runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against morris's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
mores
6 ch
morris

Visual trap between mores and morris

A purely visual mix-up. mores (/ˈmɔːɹeɪz/) and morris (/ˈmɒɹɪs/) 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 41866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mores is recorded at frequency rank #36,254, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔːɹeɪz/. morris is at rank #5,612, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɒɹɪs/.

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 41866, this pair ranks #254,418 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mores vs morris

Shared letters: mors. Private to "mores": e. Private to "morris": i.

"mores" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "morris" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mores ← mmores · moers · moress · morres · mroes · omres
  • morris ← mmorris · morirs · moris · morriss · morrsi · mroris · omrris

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mores" for "morris" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɔːɹeɪz/ versus /ˈmɒɹɪs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mores" vs "morris" - which ranks higher?
"morris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,612 in our English list, against #36,254 for "mores". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "mores" and "morris" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mores" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "morris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,418 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mores" and "morris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mores vs Moresby". 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 #254,418 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