Which to use
“mother” and “Motte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,070
- “mother” frequency rank
- #32,677
- “Motte” frequency rank
- 54747
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mother | Motte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | weiblicher Elternteil; Mutter | Kleinschmetterling mit etwa 1 cm spannenden schmalen Flügeln, dessen Raupe unter anderem Wolle, Seide, Pelzwerk und Tapeten befällt |
Where the eye mixes mother and Motte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mother runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Motte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mother and Motte
A purely visual mix-up. mother ([ˈmʌðə]) 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 54747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mother is recorded at frequency rank #22,070, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmʌðə]. 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 54747, this pair ranks #1,006,661 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mother vs Motte
Shared letters: emot. Private to "mother": hr. Private to "Motte": -.
"mother" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Motte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mother" for "Motte" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mother" vs "Motte" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mother" 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 #1,006,661 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mother" and "Motte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Möhre vs Motte". 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 #1,006,661 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.