Which to use
“mordre” and “mordus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,429
- “mordre” frequency rank
- #45,183
- “mordus” frequency rank
- 58612
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mordre | mordus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Serrer avec les dents de manière à entamer. | Masculin pluriel du participe passé de mordre. |
Where the eye mixes mordre and mordus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mordre (CVCCCV) and mordus (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: mordre vs mordus
A purely visual mix-up. mordre (\mɔʁdʁ\) and mordus (\mɔʁ.dy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mordre is recorded at frequency rank #13,429, classified as averb, pronounced \mɔʁdʁ\. 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 58612, this pair ranks #108,032 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mordre vs mordus
Shared letters: dmor. Private to "mordre": e. Private to "mordus": su.
"mordre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "mordus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mordre" and "mordus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mordre" or "mordus"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mordre" and "mordus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mordre" 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 #108,032 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mordre" 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 #108,032 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.