Which to use
“moderne” and “morne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,530
- “moderne” frequency rank
- #23,945
- “morne” frequency rank
- 25475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moderne | morne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est soit de notre temps, soit d’un temps plus ou moins rapproché du nôtre, par opposition à antique, à ancien. | Qui est d’une tristesse sombre, allant jusqu’à l’abattement. |
Where the eye mixes moderne and morne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. moderne runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against morne's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses moderne with morne
A purely visual mix-up. moderne (\mɔ.dɛʁn\) and morne (\mɔʁn\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moderne is recorded at frequency rank #1,530, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.dɛʁn\. morne is at rank #23,945, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔʁn\.
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 25475, this pair ranks #340,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of moderne vs morne
Shared letters: emnor. Private to "moderne": d. Private to "morne": -.
"moderne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "morne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moderne" for "morne" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "moderne" or "morne" show up more?
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 "moderne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "morne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moderne" and "morne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mordue vs morne". 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 #340,640 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.