moavsmodiConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#45,173
“moa” frequency rank
#45,175
“modi” frequency rank
90348
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moa modi
Definition Une des espèces d'oiseaux terrestres (ratites) géants (jusqu'à trois mètres de haut), incapables de voler, originaires de Nouvelle-Zélande, éteintes après l'arrivée des ancêtres des Maori. Pluriel de modus.

Where the eye mixes moa and modi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. moa runs 3 letters (CVV) against modi's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
moa
4 ch
modi

Why the eye confuses moa with modi

A purely visual mix-up. moa (\mɔ.a\) and modi (\mɔ.di\) 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 90348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moa is recorded at frequency rank #45,173, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.a\. 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 90348, this pair ranks #4,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of moa vs modi

Shared letters: mo. Private to "moa": a. Private to "modi": di.

"moa" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "modi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modi ← mdoi · mmodi · moddi · moid · omdi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "moa" for "modi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɔ.a\ versus \mɔ.di\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "moa" or "modi"?
"moa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,173 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "moa" 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 #4,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moa" 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 #4,873 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