madvsmodiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mad is a adjective, modi is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mad” is an adjective and “modi” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,833
“mad” frequency rank
#45,175
“modi” frequency rank
59008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mad modi
Definition Fou. Pluriel de modus.

Where the eye mixes mad and modi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
mad
4 ch
modi

Why the eye confuses mad with modi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mad is \mæd\ while modi is \mɔ.di\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59008, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mad is recorded at frequency rank #13,833, classified as anadj, pronounced \mæd\. modi is at rank #45,175, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.di\.

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 59008, this pair ranks #105,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mad vs modi

Shared letters: dm. Private to "mad": a. Private to "modi": io.

"mad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "modi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modimdoi · mmodi · moddi · moid · omdi

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mad" and "modi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mad" is an adjective and "modi" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "mad" or "modi" show up more?
"mad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,833 in our French list, against #45,175 for "modi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #105,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mad" and "modi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modi vs mud". 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 #105,612 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