Which to use
“moa” is a noun and “moya” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,173
- “moa” frequency rank
- #45,744
- “moya” frequency rank
- 90917
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moa | moya |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple du verbe moyer. |
Where the eye mixes moa and moya
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. moa runs 3 letters (CVV) against moya's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: moa vs moya
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moa is \mɔ.a\ while moya is \mwa.ja\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90917, 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\. moya is at rank #45,744, tagged as averb, pronounced \mwa.ja\.
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 90917, this pair ranks #4,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of moa vs moya
Shared letters: amo. Private to "moa": -. Private to "moya": y.
"moa" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "moya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- moya ← mmoya · moay · moyya · myoa · omya
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moa" for "moya" ever safe?
Frequency check: "moa" vs "moya" - which ranks higher?
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 "moya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moa" and "moya" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Monza vs moya". 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 #4,333 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.