mois

\mwa\

/\mwa\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“mois” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #184) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#184
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chacune des douze parties de l’année, dont chacune contient trente ou trente et un jours, excepté la seconde (février), qui est de vingt-huit jours dans les années ordinaires, et de vingt-neuf dans...

Corpus desk

Index FR-mois · mois · French

mois · rank #184 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #184
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH jours

Nearest frequency peer: jours (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “mois”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “mois” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

mois vs ms
50% similar
mois vs mon
50% similar
mois vs mot
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for mois
PropertyValue
Headwordmois
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mwa\
Letters4
Frequency rank#184
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mois” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). mois lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for mois is neighbouring look-alikes ("ms", "mon", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \mwa\. Frequency #184 among 5,038 “M” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for mois, with forms such as "mios", "mmois", and "moiss". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ms", "mon", "mot", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is mois, spelled M-O-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chacune des douze parties de l’année, dont chacune contient trente ou trente et un jours, excepté la seconde (février), qui est de vingt-huit jours dans les années ordinaires, et de vingt-neuf dans les années bissextiles.
  2. 2
    Espace de temps qui s’écoule depuis un jour quelconque jusqu’au quantième correspondant du mois suivant. Espace de trente jours environ.
  3. 3
    Espace de temps qui s’écoule depuis un jour quelconque jusqu’au quantième correspondant du mois suivant. Espace de trente jours environ.
  4. 4
    Mensualité en parlant de location, de leçons, de travail, etc.
  5. 5
    Menstrues.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how mois appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Depuis le 24 janvier nous sommes en ramadan, neuvième mois de l’année lunaire mahométane, pendant lequel tout bon musulman s’abstient de manger, de boire, de fumer, bref, de toute jouissance charnelle, depuis l’aube jusqu'au coucher du soleil.
  2. À partir du mois de juin, la plage, aujourd'hui disparue, se couvrait de tentes pour la saison des bains de mer.

This word in other languages

month(English)mes(Español)Monat(Deutsch)mês(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mios
  • mmois
  • moiss
  • mosi

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mois - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

mios2mmois1moiss1mosi2
Edit distance from "mois"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mois"?
"mois" is spelled M-O-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is \mwa\.
What does "mois" mean?
As a noun, "mois" means: Chacune des douze parties de l’année, dont chacune contient trente ou trente et un jours, excepté la seconde (février), qui est de vingt-huit jours dans les années ordinaires, et de vingt-neuf dans...
What words are commonly confused with "mois"?
"mois" is commonly confused with "ms", "mon", "mot". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mois"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mois" is \mwa\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mois" come from?
"mois" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mois", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

vers#185mort#187sais#188fais#190

What to do next

You've looked up "mois". Here's where to go from here.

  • "mois" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "ms". View pair
  • 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #184 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list