moivsmyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#73
“moi” frequency rank
#2,938
“my” frequency rank
3011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moi my
Definition Pronom tonique de la première personne du singulier. Pronom personnel objet de la première personne du singulier : me.

Where the eye mixes moi and my

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
moi
2 ch
my

Visual trap between moi and my

A purely visual mix-up. moi (\mwa\) and my (\məi\) 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 3011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moi is recorded at frequency rank #73, classified as apron, pronounced \mwa\. my is at rank #2,938, tagged as apron, pronounced \məi\.

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 3011, this pair ranks #435,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of moi vs my

Shared letters: m. Private to "moi": io. Private to "my": y.

"moi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "my" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "moi" for "my" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mwa\ versus \məi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "moi" vs "my" - which ranks higher?
"moi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #73 in our French list, against #2,938 for "my". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "moi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "my" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #435,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moi" and "my" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "MWh vs my". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #435,000 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