Which to use
“mordicus” is an adverb and “mordus” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,803
- “mordicus” frequency rank
- #45,183
- “mordus” frequency rank
- 94986
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mordicus | mordus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sans en démordre ; avec ténacité ; avec obstination. | Masculin pluriel du participe passé de mordre. |
Where the eye mixes mordicus and mordus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. mordicus runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against mordus's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mordicus with mordus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mordicus is \mɔʁ.di.kys\ while mordus is \mɔʁ.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mordicus is recorded at frequency rank #49,803, classified as anadv, pronounced \mɔʁ.di.kys\. 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 94986, this pair ranks #1,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mordicus vs mordus
Shared letters: dmorsu. Private to "mordicus": ci. Private to "mordus": -.
"mordicus" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "mordus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mordicus" for "mordus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mordicus" vs "mordus" - which ranks higher?
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 "mordicus" 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 #1,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mordicus" and "mordus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mordue 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 #1,292 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.