English homophones
metal/mettle
"metal" (#1,607 written frequency) beats "mettle" (#40,798) in this 2-word /ˈmɛ.təl/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈmɛ.təl/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "metal" leads at #1,607, with "mettle" trailing at #40,798.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "met" then splits - "metal" (5 letters) vs "mettle" (6).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across metal, mettle: elmt. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
metal
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory aelmt · private a
mettle
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCCV
Inventory elmt · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "metal" when you mean: Chemical elements or alloys, their ores, and the mines where their ores come from.
- Write "mettle" when you mean: A quality of courage and endurance.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (metal, mettle). Here's where to go from here.
- "metal" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #1,607 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: manner · manna. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "metal, mettle" 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.