Which to use
“motley” and “mottled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,849
- “motley” frequency rank
- #38,976
- “mottled” frequency rank
- 64825
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | motley | mottled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Comprising greatly varied elements, to the point of incongruity. | Colored in patches; spotted. |
Where the eye mixes motley and mottled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. motley runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against mottled's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between motley and mottled
A purely visual mix-up. motley (/ˈmɒtli/) and mottled (/ˈmɑt əld/) 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 64825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
motley is recorded at frequency rank #25,849, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɒtli/. mottled is at rank #38,976, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɑt əld/.
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 64825, this pair ranks #75,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of motley vs mottled
Shared letters: elmot. Private to "motley": y. Private to "mottled": d.
"motley" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "mottled" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "motley" and "mottled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "motley" or "mottled" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "motley" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mottled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "motley" and "mottled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettle vs mottled". 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 #75,801 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.