Madder or matter?
madder is a noun meaning “A herbaceous plant, Rubia tinctorum, native to Asia, cultivated for a…”; matter is a noun meaning “Anything with mass and volume”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) matter is about 617 times as common as madder.
What is the difference between madder and matter?
| madder | matter | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A herbaceous plant, Rubia tinctorum, native to Asia, cultivated for a red-purple dye (alizarin) obtained from the root The root of the plant, used as a medicine or a dye Of a deep reddish purple colour, like that of the dye | Anything with mass and volume Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles To be important |
| Example | none recorded | vegetable matter |
| Forms | madders | matters |
| Pronunciation | /ˈmæd.ə(ɹ)/ [ˈmad.ə(ɹ)] /ˈmæd.ɚ/ | /ˈmætə/ /ˈmatə/ /ˈmatəɾ/ |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words | 240 times per million words |
Sources: madder and matter in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of madder and matter
madder
- 1
A herbaceous plant, Rubia tinctorum, native to Asia, cultivated for a red-purple dye (alizarin) obtained from the root
- 2
Of a deep reddish purple colour, like that of the dye
- 3
Eye dialect spelling of matter
- 4
The root of the plant, used as a medicine or a dye
- 5
A dye made from the plant
- 6
A deep reddish colour, like that of the dye
matter
- 1
Anything with mass and volume
- 2
To be important
The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich
- 3
Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles
- 4
To care about, to mind; to find important
Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […]
- 5
A kind of substance
vegetable matter
- 6
Printed material, especially in books or magazines
He always took some reading matter with him on the plane
- 7
Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance
- 8
An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic
Something is the matter with him
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, madder or matter?
madder appears about once in every 3 million words; matter 240 times per million words.
madder about once in every 3 million wordsmatter 240 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search madder vs matter?
“madder vs matter” is searched about 10 times a month on Bing (Google reports it together with close variants, so it has no figure of its own) in the United States.
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.