Which to use
“moindre” is an adjective and “moire” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,446
- “moindre” frequency rank
- #48,051
- “moire” frequency rank
- 49497
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moindre | moire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Comparatif de petit : Plus petit. | Apprêt que reçoivent, par un calandrage spécifique, certaines étoffes de soie, de laine, de coton ou de lin, et qui leur communique un éclat changeant, une apparence ondée et chatoyante. |
Where the eye mixes moindre and moire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses moindre with moire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moindre is \mwɛ̃dʁ\ while moire is \mwaʁ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moindre is recorded at frequency rank #1,446, classified as anadj, pronounced \mwɛ̃dʁ\. moire is at rank #48,051, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mwaʁ\.
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 49497, this pair ranks #170,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of moindre vs moire
Shared letters: eimor. Private to "moindre": dn. Private to "moire": -.
"moindre" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV · "moire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "moindre" and "moire" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "moindre" vs "moire" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "moindre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "moire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moindre" and "moire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moire vs moisie". 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 #170,139 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.