MottevsmouthConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,677
“Motte” frequency rank
#40,096
“mouth” frequency rank
72773
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes Motte and mouth

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Motte (CVCCV) and mouth (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Motte
5 ch
mouth

Look-alike desk: Motte vs mouth

A purely visual mix-up. Motte ([ˈmɔtə]) and mouth ([maʊθ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Motte is recorded at frequency rank #32,677, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɔtə]. mouth is at rank #40,096, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maʊθ].

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 72773, this pair ranks #378,916 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Motte vs mouth

Shared letters: mot. Private to "Motte": e. Private to "mouth": hu.

"Motte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mouth" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Motte ← mmotte · mote · motet · mtote · omtte
  • mouth ← mmouth · motuh · mouht · mouthh · moutth · muoth · omuth

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Motte" for "mouth" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɔtə] versus [maʊθ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Motte" or "mouth" show up more?
"Motte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,677 in our German list, against #40,096 for "mouth". 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 "Motte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mouth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #378,916 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Motte" and "mouth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "month vs mouth". 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 #378,916 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