Which to use
“mode” and “mois” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #585
- “mode” frequency rank
- #184
- “mois” frequency rank
- 769
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mode | mois |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Manière de voir ou d’agir ; fantaisie. | Chacune des douze parties de l’année, dont chacune contient trente ou trente et un jours, excepté la seconde (février), qui est de vingt-huit jours dans les années ordinaires, et de vingt-neuf dans les années bissextiles. |
Where the eye mixes mode and mois
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mode and mois
A purely visual mix-up. mode (\mɔd\) and mois (\mwa\) 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 769, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mode is recorded at frequency rank #585, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔd\. mois is at rank #184, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mwa\.
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 769, this pair ranks #439,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mode vs mois
Shared letters: mo. Private to "mode": de. Private to "mois": is.
"mode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mode" and "mois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mode" vs "mois" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mode" and "mois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mode vs mud". 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 #439,153 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.