mervsmotWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“mer” and “mot” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,134
“mer” frequency rank
#42,693
“mot” frequency rank
52827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mer mot
Definition das Meer, die See Wort

Where the eye mixes mer and mot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mer
3 ch
mot

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mer ([mεːʀ]) and mot ([mo]) 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 52827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mer is recorded at frequency rank #10,134, classified as anoun, pronounced [mεːʀ]. mot is at rank #42,693, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mo].

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 52827, this pair ranks #1,081,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mer vs mot

Shared letters: m. Private to "mer": er. Private to "mot": ot.

"mer" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mer" and "mot" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mεːʀ] versus [mo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mer" or "mot"?
"mer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,134 in our German list, against #42,693 for "mot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list