moultvsmouseConfusable pair

Quick tell: moult is a adverb, mouse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“moult” is an adverb and “mouse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,008
“moult” frequency rank
#31,143
“mouse” frequency rank
53151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moult mouse
Definition et ou Beaucoup. Note d’usage : Attaché à un verbe. Souris.

Where the eye mixes moult and mouse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
moult
5 ch
mouse

Look-alike desk: moult vs mouse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moult is \mu\ while mouse is \maʊs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moult is recorded at frequency rank #22,008, classified as anadv, pronounced \mu\. 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 53151, this pair ranks #142,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of moult vs mouse

Shared letters: mou. Private to "moult": lt. Private to "mouse": es.

"moult" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "mouse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moultmmoult · molut · moullt · moultt · moutl · muolt · omult
  • mousemmouse · mosue · moues · muose · omuse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "moult" and "mouse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "moult" is an adverb and "mouse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "moult" vs "mouse" - which ranks higher?
"moult" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,008 in our French list, against #31,143 for "mouse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "moult" 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 #142,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moult" 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 #142,708 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