moulinetvsmoulinsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#48,058
“moulinet” frequency rank
#9,700
“moulins” frequency rank
57758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moulinet moulins
Definition Tourniquet dont on se sert pour enlever ou pour tirer des fardeaux, ou encore pour mesurer la vitesse de l’eau. Pluriel de moulin.

Where the eye mixes moulinet and moulins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. moulinet runs 8 letters (CVVCVCVC) against moulins's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
moulinet
7 ch
moulins

Why the eye confuses moulinet with moulins

A purely visual mix-up. moulinet (\mu.li.nɛ\) and moulins (\mu.lɛ̃\) 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 57758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moulinet is recorded at frequency rank #48,058, classified as anoun, pronounced \mu.li.nɛ\. moulins is at rank #9,700, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mu.lɛ̃\.

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 57758, this pair ranks #113,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of moulinet vs moulins

Shared letters: ilmnou. Private to "moulinet": et. Private to "moulins": s.

"moulinet" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC  ·  "moulins" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moulinetmmoulinet · moluinet · mouilnet · moulient · moulinett · moulinnet · moulinte · moullinet
  • moulinsmmoulins · moluins · mouilns · moulinns · moulinss · moulisn · moullins · moulnis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "moulinet" and "moulins" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mu.li.nɛ\ versus \mu.lɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "moulinet" or "moulins"?
"moulins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,700 in our French list, against #48,058 for "moulinet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "moulinet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moulins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moulinet" and "moulins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moulant vs moulinet". 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 #113,146 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