mouillévsmouleWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#12,622
“mouillé” frequency rank
#9,699
“moule” frequency rank
22321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mouillé moule
Definition Qui est imbibé ou recouvert de gouttes de liquide, généralement de l’eau ; humide. Mollusque bivalve, comestible, dont la coquille est de forme oblongue.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mouillé and moule apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
mouillé
5 ch
moule

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mouillé is \mu.je\ while moule is \mul\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22321, 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\. moule is at rank #9,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mul\.

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 22321, this pair ranks #358,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mouillé vs moule

Shared letters: lmou. Private to "mouillé": . Private to "moule": e.

"mouillé" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV  ·  "moule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moulemmoule · molue · mouel · moulle · muole · omule

Frequency comparison

mouillé#12,622
moule#9,699

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mouillé" and "moule" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mouillé" is an adjective and "moule" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mouillé" or "moule"?
"moule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,699 in our French list, against #12,622 for "mouillé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mouillé vs moule

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “mouillé”; for a noun, it's “moule”.
  • 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