mottled
/ˈmɑt əld/
"mottled" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mottled” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #38,976 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #38,976
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Colored in patches; spotted.
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 | mottled |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈmɑt əld/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #38,976 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mottled” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mottled is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɑt əld/. Corpus data places it at rank #38,976 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Colored in patches; spotted.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for mottled, with forms such as "mmottled", "motled", and "motlted". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "mouthed", "motley", "matted", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 1670-80 mottle + -ed. The correct English form is mottled, spelled M-O-T-T-L-E-D.
Definition
- 1Colored in patches; spotted.
Etymology
1670-80 mottle + -ed.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmottled,motled,motlted,motteld,mottlde,mottledd,mottlled,mtotled,omttled
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mottled - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “mottled”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-T-T-L-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɑt əld/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mouthed” - see the side-by-side comparison. mottled vs mouthed
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.