modalitévsmortalitéTell them apart

Which to use

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

#29,863
“modalité” frequency rank
#7,599
“mortalité” frequency rank
37462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature modalité mortalité
Definition Qualité, manière d’être. Condition de ce qui est sujet à la mort.

Where the eye mixes modalité and mortalité

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. modalité runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCV) against mortalité's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
modalité
9 ch
mortalité

Visual trap between modalité and mortalité

A purely visual mix-up. modalité (\mɔ.da.li.te\) and mortalité (\mɔʁ.ta.li.te\) 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 37462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

modalité is recorded at frequency rank #29,863, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.da.li.te\. mortalité is at rank #7,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔʁ.ta.li.te\.

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 37462, this pair ranks #262,348 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of modalité vs mortalité

Shared letters: ailmoté. Private to "modalité": d. Private to "mortalité": r.

"modalité" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "mortalité" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "modalité" for "mortalité" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɔ.da.li.te\ versus \mɔʁ.ta.li.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "modalité" or "mortalité"?
"mortalité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,599 in our French list, against #29,863 for "modalité". 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 "modalité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mortalité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,348 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "modalité" and "mortalité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modalité vs moraliste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #262,348 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