mortvsmotWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,299
“mort” frequency rank
#42,693
“mot” frequency rank
80992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mort mot
Definition der Tod Wort

Where the eye mixes mort and mot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mort runs 4 letters (CVCC) against mot's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mort
3 ch
mot

Why the eye confuses mort with mot

A purely visual mix-up. mort ([mɔʁ]) 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 80992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mort is recorded at frequency rank #38,299, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɔʁ]. 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 80992, this pair ranks #184,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mort vs mot

Shared letters: mot. Private to "mort": r. Private to "mot": -.

"mort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mort ← mmort · morrt · mortt · motr · mrot · omrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mort" and "mot" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mɔʁ] versus [mo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mort" vs "mot" - which ranks higher?
"mort" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,299 in our German list, against #42,693 for "mot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mort" 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 #184,490 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mort" 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 #184,490 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