English homophones
mot/mow
"mot" is a noun; "mow" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "mot" arrives as a noun, while "mow" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Single-letter fork: "mot" keeps t, "mow" writes w at letter 3.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across mot, mow: mo. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
mot
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory mot · private t
mow
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory mow · private w
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "mot" when you mean: A witty remark; a witticism; a bon mot.
- Write "mow" when you mean: To cut down grass or crops.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (mot, mow). Here's where to go from here.
- "mot" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #25,484 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: martin · marten. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.