Which to use
“mois” and “mots” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #184
- “mois” frequency rank
- #570
- “mots” frequency rank
- 754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mois | mots |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Pluriel de mot. |
Where the eye mixes mois and mots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mois vs mots
A purely visual mix-up. mois (\mwa\) and mots (\mo\) 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 a single letter - i in “mois” becomes t in “mots”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mois is recorded at frequency rank #184, classified as anoun, pronounced \mwa\. mots is at rank #570, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mo\.
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 754, this pair ranks #439,175 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mois vs mots
Shared letters: mos. Private to "mois": i. Private to "mots": t.
"mois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "mots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mois" and "mots" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mois" or "mots"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,175 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mois" and "mots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mito vs mots". 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 #439,175 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.