Which to use
“moth” and “myth” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,005
- “moth” frequency rank
- #6,269
- “myth” frequency rank
- 21274
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moth | myth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any flying insect of the order Lepidoptera not in the superfamily Papilionoidea, most species of which are nocturnal and can be distinguished from butterflies by feather-like antennae. | A traditional story which embodies a belief regarding some fact or phenomenon of experience, and in which often the forces of nature and of the soul are personified; a sacred narrative regarding a god, a hero, the origin of the world or of a people, etc. |
Where the eye mixes moth and myth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: moth vs myth
A purely visual mix-up. moth (/mɒθ/) and myth (/mɪθ/) 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 a single letter - o in “moth” becomes y in “myth”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moth is recorded at frequency rank #15,005, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɒθ/. myth is at rank #6,269, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɪθ/.
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 21274, this pair ranks #425,067 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of moth vs myth
Shared letters: hmt. Private to "moth": o. Private to "myth": y.
"moth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "myth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moth" for "myth" ever safe?
Frequency check: "moth" vs "myth" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "moth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "myth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,067 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moth" and "myth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Moog vs moth". 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 #425,067 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.