marksvsmorsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,341
“marks” frequency rank
#34,201
“mors” frequency rank
53542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marks mors
Definition Pluriel de mark. Ensemble des pièces de fer qui servent à brider un cheval, comme l’embouchure, les branches, la gourmette, etc.

Where the eye mixes marks and mors

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

5 ch
marks
4 ch
mors

Why the eye confuses marks with mors

A purely visual mix-up. marks (\maʁk\) 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 53542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marks is recorded at frequency rank #19,341, classified as anoun, pronounced \maʁk\. 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 53542, this pair ranks #140,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marks vs mors

Shared letters: mrs. Private to "marks": ak. Private to "mors": o.

"marks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "mors" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marksamrks · makrs · markks · markss · marrks · marsk · mmarks · mraks
  • morsmmors · morrs · morss · mosr · mros · omrs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marks" for "mors" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\maʁk\ versus \mɔʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "marks" or "mors"?
"marks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,341 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "marks" 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 #140,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marks" 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 #140,017 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