mouvsmunConfusable pair

Quick tell: mou is a adjective, mun is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mou” is an adjective and “mun” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,739
“mou” frequency rank
#37,440
“mun” frequency rank
46179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mou mun
Definition Qui cède facilement au toucher, qui reçoit facilement l’impression des autres corps. Combien.

Where the eye mixes mou and mun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
mou
3 ch
mun

Look-alike desk: mou vs mun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mou is \mu\ while mun is \mun\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mou is recorded at frequency rank #8,739, classified as anadj, pronounced \mu\. mun is at rank #37,440, tagged as apron, pronounced \mun\.

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 46179, this pair ranks #196,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mou vs mun

Shared letters: mu. Private to "mou": o. Private to "mun": n.

"mou" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mou" for "mun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mou" is an adjective and "mun" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "mou" or "mun" show up more?
"mou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,739 in our French list, against #37,440 for "mun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mou" and "mun" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #196,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mou" and "mun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mun vs MWh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #196,969 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list