morauxvsmordusTell them apart

Quick tell: moraux is a adjective, mordus is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“moraux” is an adjective and “mordus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,259
“moraux” frequency rank
#45,183
“mordus” frequency rank
63442
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moraux mordus
Definition Masculin pluriel de moral. Masculin pluriel du participe passé de mordre.

Where the eye mixes moraux and mordus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. moraux (CVCVVC) and mordus (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
moraux
6 ch
mordus

Look-alike desk: moraux vs mordus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moraux is \mɔ.ʁo\ while mordus is \mɔʁ.dy\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moraux is recorded at frequency rank #18,259, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.ʁo\. mordus is at rank #45,183, tagged as averb, pronounced \mɔʁ.dy\.

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 63442, this pair ranks #81,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of moraux vs mordus

Shared letters: moru. Private to "moraux": ax. Private to "mordus": ds.

"moraux" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "mordus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • morauxmmoraux · moarux · morauxx · moraxu · morraux · moruax · mroaux · omraux
  • mordusmmordus · modrus · morddus · mordsu · morduss · morrdus · moruds · mrodus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "moraux" and "mordus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "moraux" is an adjective and "mordus" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "moraux" or "mordus"?
"moraux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,259 in our French list, against #45,183 for "mordus". 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 "moraux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mordus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moraux" and "mordus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mordicus vs mordus". 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 #81,939 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