Which to use
“mords” and “mordus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,200
- “mords” frequency rank
- #45,183
- “mordus” frequency rank
- 79383
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mords | mordus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de mordre. | Masculin pluriel du participe passé de mordre. |
Where the eye mixes mords and mordus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mords runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against mordus's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mords and mordus
A purely visual mix-up. mords (\mɔʁ\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mords is recorded at frequency rank #34,200, classified as averb, pronounced \mɔʁ\. 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 79383, this pair ranks #23,436 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mords vs mordus
Shared letters: dmors. Private to "mords": -. Private to "mordus": u.
"mords" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "mordus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mords" and "mordus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mords" vs "mordus" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mords" 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 #23,436 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mords" 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 #23,436 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.