ModevsmotConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,331
“Mode” frequency rank
#42,693
“mot” frequency rank
46024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mode mot
Definition Brauch, Gewohnheit, Sitte Wort

Where the eye mixes Mode and mot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Mode
3 ch
mot

Look-alike desk: Mode vs mot

A purely visual mix-up. Mode ([ˈmoːdə]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46024, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mode is recorded at frequency rank #3,331, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmoːdə]. 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 46024, this pair ranks #1,333,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mode vs mot

Shared letters: mo. Private to "Mode": de. Private to "mot": t.

"Mode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Modemdoe · mmode · modde · moed · omde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mode" for "mot" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmoːdə] versus [mo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Mode" or "mot" show up more?
"Mode" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,331 in our German list, against #42,693 for "mot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,333,100 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mode" and "mot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mot". 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 #1,333,100 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