molvsmugTell them apart

Quick tell: mol is a adjective, mug is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#28,654
“mol” frequency rank
#31,613
“mug” frequency rank
60267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mol mug
Definition Masculin singulier de mou devant une voyelle ou un h muet, et plus rarement devant une consonne. Grande tasse dont la forme et la capacité rappellent une chope.

Where the eye mixes mol and mug

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mol
3 ch
mug

Visual trap between mol and mug

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mol is \mɔl\ while mug is \mœɡ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mol is recorded at frequency rank #28,654, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔl\. mug is at rank #31,613, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mœɡ\.

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 60267, this pair ranks #98,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mol vs mug

Shared letters: m. Private to "mol": lo. Private to "mug": gu.

"mol" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mug" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mol" and "mug" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mol" is an adjective and "mug" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mol" vs "mug" - which ranks higher?
"mol" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,654 in our French list, against #31,613 for "mug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "mol" and "mug" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mol" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #98,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mol" and "mug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mug vs MWh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #98,550 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