Which to use
“moment” is a noun and “mordent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #177
- “moment” frequency rank
- #41,413
- “mordent” frequency rank
- 41590
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moment | mordent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Point dans le temps. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de mordre. |
Where the eye mixes moment and mordent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. moment runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against mordent's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses moment with mordent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moment is \mɔ.mɑ̃\ while mordent is \mɔʁd\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moment is recorded at frequency rank #177, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.mɑ̃\. mordent is at rank #41,413, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɔʁd\.
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 41590, this pair ranks #231,987 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of moment vs mordent
Shared letters: emnot. Private to "moment": -. Private to "mordent": dr.
"moment" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "mordent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "moment" and "mordent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "moment" or "mordent" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "moment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mordent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #231,987 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moment" and "mordent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mordent vs moret". 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 #231,987 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.