Which to use
“mate” and “mot” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,743
- “mate” frequency rank
- #25,484
- “mot” frequency rank
- 28227
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mate | mot |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate. | A witty remark; a witticism; a bon mot. |
Where the eye mixes mate and mot
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. mate (/meɪt/) and mot (/məʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mate is recorded at frequency rank #2,743, classified as anoun, pronounced /meɪt/. mot is at rank #25,484, tagged as anoun, pronounced /məʊ/.
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 28227, this pair ranks #372,717 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mate vs mot
Shared letters: mt. Private to "mate": ae. Private to "mot": o.
"mate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mot" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mate ← amte · mmate · mtae