Moody, who won 71 caps over a 10-year career, believes Stuart Lancaster's team are "not quite where they need to be" to lift the William Webb Ellis cup on October 31.
The former Leicester and Bath flanker, speaking at an awards ceremony for the Prince's Trust in London, told the Press Association: "I don't think England are in the right place at the moment to win the World Cup.
"If they can get through the pool stages they'll have a great, fighting chance. Being at home for every match makes a massive difference and if you get into a semi-final anything could happen - but I think at the minute they are probably not quite where they need to be to win the World Cup.
"They can certainly be there to push the others, and if they get into the semi-final then there is every chance they could make the final."
Moody, who cannot see beyond New Zealand as tournament winners, believes Lancaster may be hoping his squad will peak for 2019.
He continued: "He's been building a team, there are a lot of young new changes coming, so I think he'll be focusing on the next World Cup, especially as he's had that nice new contract extension."
However, he believes England can still win the Six Nations.
Moody said: "It is disappointing that England have ended up in this position. They had a good chance to come away with a Grand Slam but they have got to focus on Scotland now.
"It should be a reasonably comfortable result against Scotland, and then go on and beat France. They can still win it, but it will be a big ask now - we are reliant on other teams."
Moody added: "I am a huge fan of Stuart Lancaster.
"I think he's done terribly well and I think all that now Stuart is lacking is that win, that result that really says, 'Look, what I've been doing over the last four years has been about this, achieving this', and if we can take something out of the Six Nations, which will be tough now, then he'll have that."
