Which to use
“mice” and “mote” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,166
- “mice” frequency rank
- #45,526
- “mote” frequency rank
- 51692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mice | mote |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of mouse | A small particle; a speck. |
Where the eye mixes mice and mote
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mice and mote follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: mice vs mote
A purely visual mix-up. mice (/maɪs/) and mote (/moʊt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mice is recorded at frequency rank #6,166, classified as anoun, pronounced /maɪs/. mote is at rank #45,526, tagged as anoun, pronounced /moʊt/.
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 51692, this pair ranks #163,331 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mice vs mote
Shared letters: em. Private to "mice": ci. Private to "mote": ot.
"mice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mice" for "mote" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mice" vs "mote" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,331 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mice" and "mote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Moog vs mote". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #163,331 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.