Which to use
“moquait” is a verb and “mouais” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,656
- “moquait” frequency rank
- #16,950
- “mouais” frequency rank
- 45606
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moquait | mouais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de moquer. | Marque un « oui » dubitatif ou insatisfait. |
Where the eye mixes moquait and mouais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. moquait runs 7 letters (CVCVVVC) against mouais's 6 (CVVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses moquait with mouais
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moquait is \mɔ.kɛ\ while mouais is \mwɛ\. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moquait is recorded at frequency rank #28,656, classified as averb, pronounced \mɔ.kɛ\. mouais is at rank #16,950, tagged as anadv, pronounced \mwɛ\.
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 45606, this pair ranks #201,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of moquait vs mouais
Shared letters: aimou. Private to "moquait": qt. Private to "mouais": s.
"moquait" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC · "mouais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "moquait" and "mouais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "moquait" or "mouais" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "moquait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mouais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moquait" and "mouais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moquaient vs moquait". 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 #201,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.