mortvsMotteConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,299
“mort” frequency rank
#32,677
“Motte” frequency rank
70976
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mort Motte
Definition der Tod Kleinschmetterling mit etwa 1 cm spannenden schmalen Flügeln, dessen Raupe unter anderem Wolle, Seide, Pelzwerk und Tapeten befällt

Where the eye mixes mort and Motte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mort runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Motte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
mort
5 ch
Motte

Look-alike desk: mort vs Motte

A purely visual mix-up. mort ([mɔʁ]) and Motte ([ˈmɔtə]) 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 70976, 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]. Motte is at rank #32,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɔtə].

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 70976, this pair ranks #430,239 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mort vs Motte

Shared letters: mot. Private to "mort": r. Private to "Motte": e.

"mort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Motte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mort ← mmort · morrt · mortt · motr · mrot · omrt
  • Motte ← mmotte · mote · motet · mtote · omtte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mort" and "Motte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([mɔʁ] versus [ˈmɔtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mort" or "Motte"?
"Motte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,677 in our German list, against #38,299 for "mort". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Motte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,239 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mort" and "Motte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mort". 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 #430,239 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