mobvsmurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,737
“mob” frequency rank
#1,531
“mur” frequency rank
27268
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mob mur
Definition Populace anglaise. Édification généralement verticale élevée en divers matériaux, pour enclore un espace, séparer des pièces, ou soutenir quelque chose.

Where the eye mixes mob and mur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mob
3 ch
mur

Visual trap between mob and mur

A purely visual mix-up. mob (\mɔb\) and mur (\myʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27268, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mob is recorded at frequency rank #25,737, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔb\. mur is at rank #1,531, tagged as anoun, pronounced \myʁ\.

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 27268, this pair ranks #330,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mob vs mur

Shared letters: m. Private to "mob": bo. Private to "mur": ru.

"mob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mob" and "mur" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mɔb\ versus \myʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "mob" or "mur" show up more?
"mur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,531 in our French list, against #25,737 for "mob". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #330,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mob" and "mur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mob vs MWh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #330,094 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