mouevsmurConfusable pair

Which to use

“moue” and “mur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,453
“moue” frequency rank
#1,531
“mur” frequency rank
30984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moue mur
Definition Grimace que l’on fait en rapprochant et en allongeant les lèvres, en signe de dérision ou de mécontentement. Édification généralement verticale élevée en divers matériaux, pour enclore un espace, séparer des pièces, ou soutenir quelque chose.

Where the eye mixes moue and mur

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

4 ch
moue
3 ch
mur

Look-alike desk: moue vs mur

A purely visual mix-up. moue (\mu\) and mur (\myʁ\) 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 30984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moue is recorded at frequency rank #29,453, classified as anoun, pronounced \mu\. mur is at rank #1,531, tagged as anoun, pronounced \myʁ\.

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 30984, this pair ranks #306,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of moue vs mur

Shared letters: mu. Private to "moue": eo. Private to "mur": r.

"moue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "mur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mouemmoue · moeu · muoe · omue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "moue" for "mur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mu\ versus \myʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "moue" or "mur"?
"mur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,531 in our French list, against #29,453 for "moue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "moue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #306,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moue" and "mur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moue vs mud". 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 #306,748 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