moisvsmoisiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mois is a noun, moisi is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mois” is a noun and “moisi” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#184
“mois” frequency rank
#32,913
“moisi” frequency rank
33097
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mois moisi
Definition Chacune des douze parties de l’année, dont chacune contient trente ou trente et un jours, excepté la seconde (février), qui est de vingt-huit jours dans les années ordinaires, et de vingt-neuf dans les années bissextiles. Attaqué par la moisissure.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mois and moisi apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
mois
5 ch
moisi

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mois is \mwa\ while moisi is \mwa.zi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “mois” sits inside “moisi”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33097, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mois is recorded at frequency rank #184, classified as anoun, pronounced \mwa\. moisi is at rank #32,913, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mwa.zi\.

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 33097, this pair ranks #292,881 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mois vs moisi

Shared letters: imos. Private to "mois": -. Private to "moisi": -.

"mois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "moisi" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moismios · mmois · moiss · mosi
  • moisimiosi · mmoisi · moiis · moissi · mosii · omisi

Frequency comparison

mois#184
moisi#32,913

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mois" and "moisi" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mois" is a noun and "moisi" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mois" or "moisi"?
"mois" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #184 in our French list, against #32,913 for "moisi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mois vs moisi

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mois”; for an adjective, it's “moisi”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mois” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list