MottevsMuttiTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,677
“Motte” frequency rank
#7,645
“Mutti” frequency rank
40322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Motte Mutti
Definition Kleinschmetterling mit etwa 1 cm spannenden schmalen Flügeln, dessen Raupe unter anderem Wolle, Seide, Pelzwerk und Tapeten befällt Koseform zu Mutter

Where the eye mixes Motte and Mutti

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Motte
5 ch
Mutti

Visual trap between Motte and Mutti

A purely visual mix-up. Motte ([ˈmɔtə]) and Mutti ([ˈmʊti]) 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 40322, 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]. Mutti is at rank #7,645, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmʊti].

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 40322, this pair ranks #1,511,824 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Motte vs Mutti

Shared letters: mt. Private to "Motte": eo. Private to "Mutti": iu.

"Motte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Mutti" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mottemmotte · mote · motet · mtote · omtte
  • Muttimmutti · mtuti · muti · mutit · umtti

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Motte" and "Mutti" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɔtə] versus [ˈmʊti]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Motte" or "Mutti"?
"Mutti" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,645 in our German list, against #32,677 for "Motte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Motte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mutti" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,511,824 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Motte" and "Mutti" 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 #1,511,824 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