molevsmoraleTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38,923
“mole” frequency rank
#2,685
“morale” frequency rank
41608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mole morale
Definition Unité de mesure de quantité de matière du Système international, dont le symbole est mol. Une mole contient autant de particules individuelles qu’il y a d’atomes dans 12 grammes de carbone 12 ; ce nombre est appelé nombre d’Avogadro, et est de l’ordre de 6,022×10²³. Science de la séparation du bien et du mal.

Where the eye mixes mole and morale

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mole runs 4 letters (CVCV) against morale's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mole
6 ch
morale

Look-alike desk: mole vs morale

A purely visual mix-up. mole (\mɔl\) and morale (\mɔ.ʁal\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mole is recorded at frequency rank #38,923, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔl\. morale is at rank #2,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.ʁal\.

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 41608, this pair ranks #231,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mole vs morale

Shared letters: elmo. Private to "mole": -. Private to "morale": ar.

"mole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "morale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mole ← mloe · mmole · moel · omle
  • morale ← mmorale · moarle · morael · moralle · morlae · morrale · mroale · omrale

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mole" and "morale" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mɔl\ versus \mɔ.ʁal\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mole" or "morale"?
"morale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,685 in our French list, against #38,923 for "mole". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "morale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #231,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mole" and "morale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moire vs mole". 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 #231,848 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