moisivsmoiteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“moisi” and “moite” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#32,913
“moisi” frequency rank
#40,376
“moite” frequency rank
73289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moisi moite
Definition Attaqué par la moisissure. Qui a quelque humidité, qui est un peu mouillé. Se dit surtout de la peau rendue humide par la sueur.

Where the eye mixes moisi and moite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. moisi and moite follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
moisi
5 ch
moite

Visual trap between moisi and moite

A purely visual mix-up. moisi (\mwa.zi\) and moite (\mwat\) 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 73289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moisi is recorded at frequency rank #32,913, classified as anadj, pronounced \mwa.zi\. moite is at rank #40,376, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mwat\.

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 73289, this pair ranks #40,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of moisi vs moite

Shared letters: imo. Private to "moisi": s. Private to "moite": et.

"moisi" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "moite" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moisi ← miosi · mmoisi · moiis · moissi · mosii · omisi
  • moite ← miote · mmoite · moiet · moitte · motie · omite

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "moisi" and "moite" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mwa.zi\ versus \mwat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "moisi" or "moite"?
"moisi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,913 in our French list, against #40,376 for "moite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "moisi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moisi" and "moite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moisie vs moite". 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 #40,992 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list