moavsMordConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#45,173
“moa” frequency rank
#18,002
“Mord” frequency rank
63175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moa Mord
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. Meurtre.

Where the eye mixes moa and Mord

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

3 ch
moa
4 ch
Mord

Visual trap between moa and Mord

A purely visual mix-up. moa (\mɔ.a\) and Mord (\mɔʁt\) 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 63175, 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\. Mord is at rank #18,002, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔʁt\.

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 63175, this pair ranks #83,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of moa vs Mord

Shared letters: mo. Private to "moa": a. Private to "Mord": dr.

"moa" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "Mord" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mord ← mmord · modr · mordd · morrd · mrod · omrd

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "moa" and "Mord" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mɔ.a\ versus \mɔʁt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "moa" vs "Mord" - which ranks higher?
"Mord" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,002 in our French list, against #45,173 for "moa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "moa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mord" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #83,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moa" and "Mord" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moa 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 #83,370 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