MettevsMottoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,587
“Mette” frequency rank
#2,984
“Motto” frequency rank
50571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mette Motto
Definition christliche Liturgie, die spätabends, nachts oder frühmorgens stattfindet eine – oft schlagwortartige – programmatische Aussage, die eine Person, Institution oder Veranstaltung charakterisieren oder prägen soll

Where the eye mixes Mette and Motto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Mette
5 ch
Motto

Look-alike desk: Mette vs Motto

A purely visual mix-up. Mette ([ˈmɛtə]) and Motto ([ˈmɔto]) 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 50571, 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]. Motto is at rank #2,984, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɔto].

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 50571, this pair ranks #1,168,598 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mette vs Motto

Shared letters: mt. Private to "Mette": e. Private to "Motto": o.

"Mette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Motto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Metteemtte · metet · mmette · mtete
  • Mottommotto · motot · mtoto · omtto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mette" for "Motto" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛtə] versus [ˈmɔto]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mette" or "Motto"?
"Motto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,984 in our German list, against #47,587 for "Mette". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Mette" and "Motto" 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 "Motto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,168,598 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mette" and "Motto" 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 #1,168,598 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