modérévsmodernesTell them apart

Quick tell: modéré is a noun, modernes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#9,044
“modéré” frequency rank
#3,547
“modernes” frequency rank
12591
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature modéré modernes
Definition Partisan de positions politiques non extrémistes. Pluriel de moderne.

Where the eye mixes modéré and modernes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. modéré runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against modernes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
modéré
8 ch
modernes

Look-alike desk: modéré vs modernes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: modéré is \mɔ.de.ʁe\ while modernes is \mɔ.dɛʁn\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

modéré is recorded at frequency rank #9,044, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.de.ʁe\. modernes is at rank #3,547, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.dɛʁn\.

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 12591, this pair ranks #404,603 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of modéré vs modernes

Shared letters: dmor. Private to "modéré": é. Private to "modernes": ens.

"modéré" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "modernes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modernesmdoernes · mmodernes · moddernes · modenres · moderens · moderness · modernnes · modernse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "modéré" for "modernes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "modéré" is a noun and "modernes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "modéré" or "modernes" show up more?
"modernes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,547 in our French list, against #9,044 for "modéré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "modéré" and "modernes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "modéré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modernes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #404,603 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "modéré" and "modernes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modéré vs moire". 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 #404,603 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