mœursvsmorsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mœurs” and “mors” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,361
“mœurs” frequency rank
#34,201
“mors” frequency rank
44562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mœurs mors
Definition Habitudes, naturelles ou acquises, relatives à la pratique du bien ou du mal au sens de la morale. Ensemble des pièces de fer qui servent à brider un cheval, comme l’embouchure, les branches, la gourmette, etc.

Where the eye mixes mœurs and mors

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

5 ch
mœurs
4 ch
mors

Visual trap between mœurs and mors

A purely visual mix-up. mœurs (\mœʁ\) and mors (\mɔʁ\) 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 44562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mœurs is recorded at frequency rank #10,361, classified as anoun, pronounced \mœʁ\. mors is at rank #34,201, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔʁ\.

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 44562, this pair ranks #209,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mœurs vs mors

Shared letters: mrs. Private to "mœurs": . Private to "mors": o.

"mœurs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "mors" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • morsmmors · morrs · morss · mosr · mros · omrs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mœurs" for "mors" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mœʁ\ versus \mɔʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mœurs" vs "mors" - which ranks higher?
"mœurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,361 in our French list, against #34,201 for "mors". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mœurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mors" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #209,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mœurs" and "mors" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Méry vs mors". 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 #209,551 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list