Which to use
“madre” is a noun and “mordre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,769
- “madre” frequency rank
- #13,429
- “mordre” frequency rank
- 47198
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | madre | mordre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bois veiné, ou tacheté issus du cœur ou de la racine et généralement utilisé pour confectionner des récipients pour boire | Serrer avec les dents de manière à entamer. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set madre and mordre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
madre and mordre form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
madre is recorded at frequency rank #33,769, classified as anoun, pronounced \madʁ\. mordre is at rank #13,429, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɔʁdʁ\.
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 47198, this pair ranks #188,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "madre" and "mordre" be used interchangeably?
Remembering madre vs mordre
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “madre”; for a verb, it's “mordre”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “madre” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable