Which to use
“mordre” is a verb and “morve” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,429
- “mordre” frequency rank
- #41,907
- “morve” frequency rank
- 55336
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mordre | morve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Serrer avec les dents de manière à entamer. | Maladie bactérienne grave, avec fièvre, atteignant notamment la peau et les muqueuses, à laquelle les équidés (chevaux, ânes, etc.) sont sujets et qui est très contagieuse entre eux, surtout lors de rassemblements, et peut atteindre d’autres animaux et rarement l’être humain (zoonose). |
Where the eye mixes mordre and morve
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mordre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against morve's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: mordre vs morve
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mordre is \mɔʁdʁ\ while morve is \mɔʁv\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55336, 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\. morve is at rank #41,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔʁv\.
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 55336, this pair ranks #128,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mordre vs morve
Shared letters: emor. Private to "mordre": d. Private to "morve": v.
"mordre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "morve" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mordre" for "morve" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "mordre" or "morve" show up more?
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 "mordre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "morve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #128,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mordre" and "morve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mordue vs morve". 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 #128,094 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.