mlevsmouleConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,557
“mle” frequency rank
#9,699
“moule” frequency rank
53256
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mle moule
Definition Abréviation de matricule. Mollusque bivalve, comestible, dont la coquille est de forme oblongue.

Letter map: mle vs moule

Shared letters muted; letters that set mle and moule apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. mle runs 3 letters (CCV) against moule's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
mle
5 ch
moule

Corpus notes: mle and moule

mle and moule are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53256, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mle is recorded at frequency rank #43,557, classified as anoun. moule is at rank #9,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mul\.

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 53256, this pair ranks #142,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mle vs moule

Shared letters: elm. Private to "mle": -. Private to "moule": ou.

"mle" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "moule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moule ← mmoule · molue · mouel · moulle · muole · omule

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mle" and "moule" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "mle" vs "moule" - which ranks higher?
"moule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,699 in our French list, against #43,557 for "mle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "mle" and "moule". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mle" and "moule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mle vs MWh". 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 #142,012 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