mobvsmoteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mob” and “mote” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,868
“mob” frequency rank
#27,313
“mote” frequency rank
72181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mob mote
Definition Turba. Sobrenombre que se le da a una persona, ya sea de forma despectiva o familiar, que deriva de una cualidad (atributo o defecto) física o psíquica, o una circunstancia.

Where the eye mixes mob and mote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mob runs 3 letters (CVC) against mote's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
mob
4 ch
mote

Why the eye confuses mob with mote

A purely visual mix-up. mob (/mɒb/) and mote ([ˈmot̪e]) 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 72181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mob is recorded at frequency rank #44,868, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɒb/. mote is at rank #27,313, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmot̪e].

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 72181, this pair ranks #25,920 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mob vs mote

Shared letters: mo. Private to "mob": b. Private to "mote": et.

"mob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mote ← mmote · moet · motte · mtoe · omte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mob" and "mote" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɒb/ versus [ˈmot̪e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mob" or "mote"?
"mote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,313 in our Spanish list, against #44,868 for "mob". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,920 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mob" and "mote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mob vs mur". 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 #25,920 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list