Which to use
“mate” and “mots” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,837
- “mate” frequency rank
- #570
- “mots” frequency rank
- 14407
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mate | mots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Endroit, dans Paris, où se tenait le conseil de filous. | Pluriel de mot. |
Where the eye mixes mate and mots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mate vs mots
A purely visual mix-up. mate (\mat\) and mots (\mo\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mate is recorded at frequency rank #13,837, classified as anoun, pronounced \mat\. mots is at rank #570, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mo\.
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 14407, this pair ranks #396,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mate vs mots
Shared letters: mt. Private to "mate": ae. Private to "mots": os.
"mate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mate" and "mots" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mate" or "mots"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mate" and "mots" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mate" and "mots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mate vs mito". 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 #396,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.