Which to use
“modem” and “modes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,697
- “modem” frequency rank
- #4,588
- “modes” frequency rank
- 14285
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | modem | modes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dispositif qui transforme un signal numérique en un signal, souvent analogique, adapté aux caractéristiques d’une ligne de transmission, et inversement. | Ensemble de parure que l’on rajoute à un vêtement, dentelles, plumes, etc. colifichet. Autrefois, l‘apanage des modistes. |
Where the eye mixes modem and modes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. modem and modes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses modem with modes
A purely visual mix-up. modem (\mɔ.dɛm\) and modes (\mɔd\) 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 a single letter - m in “modem” becomes s in “modes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
modem is recorded at frequency rank #9,697, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.dɛm\. modes is at rank #4,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔd\.
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 14285, this pair ranks #397,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of modem vs modes
Shared letters: demo. Private to "modem": -. Private to "modes": s.
"modem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "modes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "modem" for "modes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "modem" or "modes"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "modem" and "modes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "modem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "modes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,357 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "modem" and "modes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modem vs moyeu". 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 #397,357 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.