English homophones
mat/matte
"mat" (#9,065 written frequency) beats "matte" (#14,585) in this 2-word /mæt/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /mæt/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "mat" leads at #9,065, with "matte" trailing at #14,585.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "mat" then splits - "mat" (3 letters) vs "matte" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across mat, matte: amt. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
mat
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory amt · no private letters vs siblings
matte
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCV
Inventory aemt · private e
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "mat" when you mean: A flat piece of coarse material used for wiping one’s feet, or as a decorative or protective floor covering.
- Write "matte" when you mean: A decorative border around a picture used to inset and center the contents of a frame.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- matte ← amtte · matet · mmatte · mtate
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (mat, matte). Here's where to go from here.
- "mat" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #9,065 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: mole · mol. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "mat, matte" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.