Which to use
“modern” and “moderne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,694
- “modern” frequency rank
- #1,530
- “moderne” frequency rank
- 23224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | modern | moderne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Moderne. | Qui est soit de notre temps, soit d’un temps plus ou moins rapproché du nôtre, par opposition à antique, à ancien. |
Where the eye mixes modern and moderne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. modern runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against moderne's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses modern with moderne
A purely visual mix-up. modern (\mɔ.ˈdern\) and moderne (\mɔ.dɛʁn\) 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 extra letter(s) - “modern” sits inside “moderne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
modern is recorded at frequency rank #21,694, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.ˈdern\. moderne is at rank #1,530, 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 23224, this pair ranks #353,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of modern vs moderne
Shared letters: demnor. Private to "modern": -. Private to "moderne": -.
"modern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "moderne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "modern" and "moderne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "modern" vs "moderne" - which ranks higher?
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 "modern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "moderne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "modern" and "moderne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modern vs moser". 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 #353,712 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.