Which to use
“mortelles” and “mortels” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,401
- “mortelles” frequency rank
- #10,033
- “mortels” frequency rank
- 31434
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mortelles | mortels |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de mortel. | Masculin pluriel de mortel. |
Same sound, different letters: mortelles vs mortels
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. mortelles runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against mortels's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - mortelles and mortels
This is the hard kind. mortelles and mortels are pronounced identically (\mɔʁ.tɛl\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mortelles is recorded at frequency rank #21,401, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔʁ.tɛl\. mortels is at rank #10,033, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔʁ.tɛl\.
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 31434, this pair ranks #303,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mortelles vs mortels
Shared letters: elmorst. Private to "mortelles": -. Private to "mortels": -.
"mortelles" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "mortels" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mortelles" for "mortels" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mortelles" or "mortels"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "mortelles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mortels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #303,799 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mortelles" and "mortels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mortelles vs myrtilles". 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 #303,799 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.