modsvsmodusWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mods” and “modus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,350
“mods” frequency rank
#34,195
“modus” frequency rank
67545
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mods modus
Definition Pluriel de mod. Mode.

Where the eye mixes mods and modus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mods
5 ch
modus

Visual trap between mods and modus

A purely visual mix-up. mods (\mɔds\) and modus (\mɔ.dys\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mods is recorded at frequency rank #33,350, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔds\. modus is at rank #34,195, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.dys\.

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 67545, this pair ranks #62,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mods vs modus

Shared letters: dmos. Private to "mods": -. Private to "modus": u.

"mods" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "modus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modsmdos · mmods · modds · modss · mosd · omds
  • modusmdous · mmodus · moddus · modsu · moduss · mouds · omdus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mods" for "modus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɔds\ versus \mɔ.dys\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mods" or "modus"?
"mods" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,350 in our French list, against #34,195 for "modus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "mods" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,948 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mods" and "modus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modus vs mordue". 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 #62,948 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