Which to use
“mois” and “motif” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #184
- “mois” frequency rank
- #3,548
- “motif” frequency rank
- 3732
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mois | motif |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Ce qui pousse à agir, en parlant de tout élément conscient considéré comme entrant dans la détermination d’un acte volontaire. |
Where the eye mixes mois and motif
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mois with motif
A purely visual mix-up. mois (\mwa\) and motif (\mɔ.tif\) 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 3732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mois is recorded at frequency rank #184, classified as anoun, pronounced \mwa\. motif is at rank #3,548, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.tif\.
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 3732, this pair ranks #433,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mois vs motif
Shared letters: imo. Private to "mois": s. Private to "motif": ft.
"mois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "motif" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mois" for "motif" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mois" or "motif"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mois" and "motif" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "motif" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mois" and "motif" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modif vs motif". 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 #433,319 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.