mourantsvsmutantsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,415
“mourants” frequency rank
#25,746
“mutants” frequency rank
67161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mourants mutants
Definition Masculin pluriel de mourant. Masculin pluriel de mutant.

Where the eye mixes mourants and mutants

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

8 ch
mourants
7 ch
mutants

Look-alike desk: mourants vs mutants

A purely visual mix-up. mourants (\mu.ʁɑ̃\) and mutants (\my.tɑ̃\) 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 67161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mourants is recorded at frequency rank #41,415, classified as anadj, pronounced \mu.ʁɑ̃\. mutants is at rank #25,746, tagged as anadj, pronounced \my.tɑ̃\.

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 67161, this pair ranks #64,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mourants vs mutants

Shared letters: amnstu. Private to "mourants": or. Private to "mutants": -.

"mourants" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCC  ·  "mutants" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mourantsmmourants · moruants · mouarnts · mourannts · mouranst · mourantss · mourantts · mouratns
  • mutantsmmutants · mtuants · muatnts · mutannts · mutanst · mutantss · mutantts · mutatns

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mourants" and "mutants" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mu.ʁɑ̃\ versus \my.tɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mourants" or "mutants"?
"mutants" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,746 in our French list, against #41,415 for "mourants". 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 "mourants" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mutants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mourants" and "mutants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mourants vs mouvants". 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 #64,622 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