Which to use
“mare” and “mode” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,992
- “mare” frequency rank
- #585
- “mode” frequency rank
- 12577
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mare | mode |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit amas d’eau dormante qui se forme naturellement par l’abaissement du sol, ou qu’on produit artificiellement dans les villages et dans les fermes, pour des usages communs ou domestiques. | Manière de voir ou d’agir ; fantaisie. |
Where the eye mixes mare and mode
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mare and mode follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mare with mode
A purely visual mix-up. mare (\mɑʁ\) and mode (\mɔd\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12577, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mare is recorded at frequency rank #11,992, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɑʁ\. mode is at rank #585, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔd\.
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 12577, this pair ranks #404,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mare vs mode
Shared letters: em. Private to "mare": ar. Private to "mode": do.
"mare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mare" and "mode" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mare" or "mode"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mare" and "mode" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mode" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mare" and "mode" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maid vs mare". 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 #404,646 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.