Which to use
“moule” and “mouse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,699
- “moule” frequency rank
- #31,143
- “mouse” frequency rank
- 40842
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moule | mouse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mollusque bivalve, comestible, dont la coquille est de forme oblongue. | Souris. |
Where the eye mixes moule and mouse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: moule vs mouse
A purely visual mix-up. moule (\mul\) and mouse (\maʊs\) 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 a single letter - l in “moule” becomes s in “mouse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40842, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moule is recorded at frequency rank #9,699, classified as anoun, pronounced \mul\. mouse is at rank #31,143, tagged as anoun, pronounced \maʊs\.
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 40842, this pair ranks #237,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of moule vs mouse
Shared letters: emou. Private to "moule": l. Private to "mouse": s.
"moule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "mouse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moule" for "mouse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "moule" or "mouse"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "moule" and "mouse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "moule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mouse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #237,483 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moule" and "mouse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moquée vs mouse". 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 #237,483 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.