mourirvsmourraConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,486
“mourir” frequency rank
#19,605
“mourra” frequency rank
21091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mourir mourra
Definition Cesser de vivre ; devenir mort. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de mourir.

Where the eye mixes mourir and mourra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mourir (CVVCVC) and mourra (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
mourir
6 ch
mourra

Why the eye confuses mourir with mourra

A purely visual mix-up. mourir (\mu.ʁiʁ\) and mourra (\muʁ.ʁa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mourir is recorded at frequency rank #1,486, classified as averb, pronounced \mu.ʁiʁ\. mourra is at rank #19,605, tagged as averb, pronounced \muʁ.ʁa\.

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 21091, this pair ranks #364,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mourir vs mourra

Shared letters: moru. Private to "mourir": i. Private to "mourra": a.

"mourir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "mourra" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mourir ← mmourir · moruir · mouirr · mourirr · mourri · muorir · omurir
  • mourra ← mmourra · morura · mourar · muorra · omurra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mourir" and "mourra" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mu.ʁiʁ\ versus \muʁ.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mourir" vs "mourra" - which ranks higher?
"mourir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,486 in our French list, against #19,605 for "mourra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "mourir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mourra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #364,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mourir" and "mourra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Moura vs mourra". 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 #364,910 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