MettevsMutterConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,587
“Mette” frequency rank
#470
“Mutter” frequency rank
48057
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mette Mutter
Definition christliche Liturgie, die spätabends, nachts oder frühmorgens stattfindet weiblicher Elternteil, der seine Kinder aufzieht und versorgt; Frau, welche ein oder mehrere Kinder geboren hat

Where the eye mixes Mette and Mutter

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

5 ch
Mette
6 ch
Mutter

Look-alike desk: Mette vs Mutter

A purely visual mix-up. Mette ([ˈmɛtə]) and Mutter ([ˈmʊtɐ]) 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 48057, 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]. Mutter is at rank #470, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmʊtɐ].

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 48057, this pair ranks #1,262,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mette vs Mutter

Shared letters: emt. Private to "Mette": -. Private to "Mutter": ru.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Metteemtte · metet · mmette · mtete
  • Muttermmutter · mtuter · muter · mutetr · mutterr · muttre · umtter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mette" and "Mutter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɛtə] versus [ˈmʊtɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mette" or "Mutter"?
"Mutter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #470 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mutter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,262,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mette" and "Mutter" 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 #1,262,368 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