MotorvsMotorsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,775
“Motor” frequency rank
#13,205
“Motors” frequency rank
15980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Motor Motors
Definition antreibende Maschine Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Motor

Where the eye mixes Motor and Motors

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Motor runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Motors's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Motor
6 ch
Motors

Look-alike desk: Motor vs Motors

A purely visual mix-up. Motor ([ˈmoːtoːɐ̯]) and Motors ([ˈmoːtoːɐ̯s]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Motor” sits inside “Motors”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Motor is recorded at frequency rank #2,775, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmoːtoːɐ̯]. Motors is at rank #13,205, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmoːtoːɐ̯s].

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 15980, this pair ranks #1,939,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Motor vs Motors

Shared letters: mort. Private to "Motor": -. Private to "Motors": s.

"Motor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Motors" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Motor ← mmotor · mootr · motorr · motro · mottor · mtoor · omtor
  • Motors ← mmotors · mootrs · motorrs · motorss · motosr · motros · mottors · mtoors

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Motor" for "Motors" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmoːtoːɐ̯] versus [ˈmoːtoːɐ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Motor" or "Motors"?
"Motor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,775 in our German list, against #13,205 for "Motors". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Motor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Motors" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,939,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Motor" and "Motors" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Majors vs Motors". 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 #1,939,616 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