Which to use
“moire” and “moule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,051
- “moire” frequency rank
- #9,699
- “moule” frequency rank
- 57750
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moire | moule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Mollusque bivalve, comestible, dont la coquille est de forme oblongue. |
Where the eye mixes moire and moule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. moire and moule follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses moire with moule
A purely visual mix-up. moire (\mwaʁ\) and moule (\mul\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moire is recorded at frequency rank #48,051, classified as anoun, pronounced \mwaʁ\. moule is at rank #9,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mul\.
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 57750, this pair ranks #113,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of moire vs moule
Shared letters: emo. Private to "moire": ir. Private to "moule": lu.
"moire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "moule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moire" for "moule" ever safe?
Which is more common, "moire" or "moule"?
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 "moire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "moule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moire" and "moule" 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 #113,186 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.