Which to use
“moon” and “Motion” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,139
- “moon” frequency rank
- #17,366
- “Motion” frequency rank
- 27505
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moon | Motion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Mond, der einzige natürliche Satellit der Erde | Ableitung (Derivation) weiblicher Personen- oder Tierbezeichnungen aus den entsprechenden männlichen Wörtern, vereinzelt auch die Ableitung männlicher Bezeichnungen aus weiblichen. |
Where the eye mixes moon and Motion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses moon with Motion
A purely visual mix-up. moon ([muːn]) and Motion ([moˈt͡si̯oːn]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moon is recorded at frequency rank #10,139, classified as anoun, pronounced [muːn]. Motion is at rank #17,366, tagged as anoun, pronounced [moˈt͡si̯oːn].
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 27505, this pair ranks #1,800,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of moon vs Motion
Shared letters: mno. Private to "moon": -. Private to "Motion": it.
"moon" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "Motion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moon" for "Motion" ever safe?
Which is more common, "moon" or "Motion"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "moon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Motion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,800,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moon" and "Motion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moon vs mora". 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 #1,800,697 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.