mobilevsmorbideWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,089
“mobile” frequency rank
#22,005
“morbide” frequency rank
24094
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mobile morbide
Definition Qui se meut ou qui peut être mû ; qui n’est pas fixe. Relatif à la maladie.

Where the eye mixes mobile and morbide

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
mobile
7 ch
morbide

Why the eye confuses mobile with morbide

A purely visual mix-up. mobile (\mɔ.bil\) and morbide (\mɔʁ.bid\) 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 24094, 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\. morbide is at rank #22,005, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔʁ.bid\.

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 24094, this pair ranks #348,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mobile vs morbide

Shared letters: beimo. Private to "mobile": l. Private to "morbide": dr.

"mobile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "morbide" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mobilemboile · mmobile · mobbile · mobiel · mobille · moblie · moible · ombile
  • morbidemmorbide · mobride · morbbide · morbdie · morbidde · morbied · moribde · morrbide

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mobile" for "morbide" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɔ.bil\ versus \mɔʁ.bid\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mobile" vs "morbide" - which ranks higher?
"mobile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,089 in our French list, against #22,005 for "morbide". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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 "morbide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #348,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mobile" and "morbide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "morbide vs morbidité". 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 #348,659 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