motley
/ˈmɒtli/
"motley" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“motley” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #25,849. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #25,849
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Comprising greatly varied elements, to the point of incongruity.
Corpus desk
Index EN-motley · motley · English
motley · rank #25,849 · 9 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #25,849
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH Monmouth
Nearest frequency peer: Monmouth (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “motley”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Moffat
Moffat
74,155 corpus weight
- Mongolian
Mongolian
74,154 corpus weight
- Monmouth
Monmouth
74,153 corpus weight
- motley
motley
74,152 corpus weight
- mouthed
mouthed
74,151 corpus weight
- mowing
mowing
74,150 corpus weight
What this shows “motley” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | motley |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈmɒtli/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #25,849 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “motley”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around motley (IPA /ˈmɒtli/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #25,849 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for motley, with forms such as "mmotley", "moltey", and "motely". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mottled", "mole", "moly", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle + -y. The correct English form is motley, spelled M-O-T-L-E-Y.
Definition
- 1Comprising greatly varied elements, to the point of incongruity.
- 2Having many colours; variegated.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how motley appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I met a fool i' th' forest, / A motley' fool.
Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
Etymology
From Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle + -y.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- mmotley
- moltey
- motely
- motleyy
- motlley
- motlye
- mottley
- mtoley
- omtley
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of motley - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "motley", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).