MettevsMottenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,587
“Mette” frequency rank
#34,271
“Motten” frequency rank
81858
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mette Motten
Definition christliche Liturgie, die spätabends, nachts oder frühmorgens stattfindet Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Motte

Where the eye mixes Mette and Motten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Mette
6 ch
Motten

Why the eye confuses Mette with Motten

A purely visual mix-up. Mette ([ˈmɛtə]) and Motten ([ˈmɔtn̩]) 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 81858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mette is recorded at frequency rank #47,587, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɛtə]. Motten is at rank #34,271, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɔtn̩].

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 81858, this pair ranks #167,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Mette vs Motten

Shared letters: emt. Private to "Mette": -. Private to "Motten": no.

"Mette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Motten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Metteemtte · metet · mmette · mtete
  • Mottenmmotten · moten · motetn · mottenn · mottne · mtoten · omtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mette" and "Motten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛtə] versus [ˈmɔtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mette" or "Motten"?
"Motten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,271 in our German list, against #47,587 for "Mette". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Mette" and "Motten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Motten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #167,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mette" and "Motten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs Mette". 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 #167,768 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list