Which to use
“mutation” and “mutilation” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,730
- “mutation” frequency rank
- #27,139
- “mutilation” frequency rank
- 34869
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mutation | mutilation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Remplacement d’une personne par une autre. | Action de mutiler. |
Where the eye mixes mutation and mutilation
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mutation vs mutilation
A purely visual mix-up. mutation (\my.ta.sjɔ̃\) and mutilation (\my.ti.la.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34869, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mutation is recorded at frequency rank #7,730, classified as anoun, pronounced \my.ta.sjɔ̃\. mutilation is at rank #27,139, tagged as anoun, pronounced \my.ti.la.sjɔ̃\.
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 34869, this pair ranks #280,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mutation vs mutilation
Shared letters: aimnotu. Private to "mutation": -. Private to "mutilation": l.
"mutation" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "mutilation" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mutation ← mmutation · mtuation · muattion · mutaiton · mutatino · mutationn · mutatoin · mutattion
- mutilation ← mmutilation · mtuilation · muitlation · mutialtion · mutilaiton · mutilatino · mutilationn · mutilatoin
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mutation" for "mutilation" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mutation" or "mutilation"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mutation" and "mutilation" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mutation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mutilation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mutation" and "mutilation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mutilation vs mutilations". 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 #280,778 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.