mouillévsmouillerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mouillé is a adjective, mouiller is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mouillé” is an adjective and “mouiller” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,622
“mouillé” frequency rank
#16,187
“mouiller” frequency rank
28809
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mouillé mouiller
Definition Qui est imbibé ou recouvert de gouttes de liquide, généralement de l’eau ; humide. Rendre humide, imbiber un objet de liquide.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mouillé and mouiller apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
mouillé
8 ch
mouiller

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: mouillé and mouiller carry the same recorded pronunciation, \mu.je\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mouillé is recorded at frequency rank #12,622, classified as anadj, pronounced \mu.je\. mouiller is at rank #16,187, tagged as averb, pronounced \mu.je\.

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 28809, this pair ranks #320,569 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mouillé vs mouiller

Shared letters: ilmou. Private to "mouillé": é. Private to "mouiller": er.

"mouillé" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV  ·  "mouiller" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mouillermmouiller · moiuller · mouilelr · mouiler · mouillerr · mouillre · mouliler · muoiller

Frequency comparison

mouillé#12,622
mouiller#16,187

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mouillé" and "mouiller" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mouillé" is an adjective and "mouiller" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mouillé" or "mouiller"?
"mouillé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,622 in our French list, against #16,187 for "mouiller". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mouillé vs mouiller

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “mouillé”; for a verb, it's “mouiller”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mouillé” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list