mobilevsmoleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mobile is a adjective, mole is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mobile” is an adjective and “mole” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,089
“mobile” frequency rank
#38,923
“mole” frequency rank
41012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mobile mole
Definition Qui se meut ou qui peut être mû ; qui n’est pas fixe. Unité de mesure de quantité de matière du Système international, dont le symbole est mol. Une mole contient autant de particules individuelles qu’il y a d’atomes dans 12 grammes de carbone 12 ; ce nombre est appelé nombre d’Avogadro, et est de l’ordre de 6,022×10²³.

Where the eye mixes mobile and mole

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
mobile
4 ch
mole

Look-alike desk: mobile vs mole

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mobile is \mɔ.bil\ while mole is \mɔl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mobile is recorded at frequency rank #2,089, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.bil\. mole is at rank #38,923, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔl\.

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 41012, this pair ranks #236,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mobile vs mole

Shared letters: elmo. Private to "mobile": bi. Private to "mole": -.

"mobile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "mole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mobilemboile · mmobile · mobbile · mobiel · mobille · moblie · moible · ombile
  • molemloe · mmole · moel · omle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mobile" and "mole" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mobile" is an adjective and "mole" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "mobile" or "mole" show up more?
"mobile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,089 in our French list, against #38,923 for "mole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mobile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #236,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mobile" and "mole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moire vs mole". 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 #236,217 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