MoffatvsMoffettWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Moffat” and “Moffett” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,846
“Moffat” frequency rank
#44,939
“Moffett” frequency rank
70785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Moffat Moffett
Definition A town and former burgh in Dumfriesshire, Dumfries and Galloway council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NT085052). A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

Letter map: Moffat vs Moffett

Shared letters muted; letters that set Moffat and Moffett apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. Moffat runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Moffett's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Moffat
7 ch
Moffett

Pair insight - Moffat / Moffett

Moffat and Moffett are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Moffat is recorded at frequency rank #25,846, classified as aname. Moffett is at rank #44,939, tagged as aname.

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 70785, this pair ranks #49,178 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Moffat vs Moffett

Shared letters: fmot. Private to "Moffat": a. Private to "Moffett": e.

"Moffat" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Moffett" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Moffat ← mfofat · mmoffat · mofaft · mofat · moffatt · moffta · omffat
  • Moffett ← mfofett · mmoffett · mofeftt · mofett · moffet · mofftet · omffett

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Moffat" for "Moffett" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Moffat" vs "Moffett" - which ranks higher?
"Moffat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,846 in our English list, against #44,939 for "Moffett". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "Moffat" and "Moffett". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Moffat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Moffett" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,178 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Moffat" and "Moffett" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moat vs Moffat". 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 #49,178 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list