Which to use
“mettes” and “mottes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,626
- “mettes” frequency rank
- #47,469
- “mottes” frequency rank
- 82095
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mettes | mottes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de mette. | Pluriel de motte. |
Where the eye mixes mettes and mottes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mettes with mottes
A purely visual mix-up. mettes (\mɛt\) and mottes (\mɔt\) 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 a single letter - e in “mettes” becomes o in “mottes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mettes is recorded at frequency rank #34,626, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɛt\. mottes is at rank #47,469, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔt\.
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 82095, this pair ranks #17,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mettes vs mottes
Shared letters: emst. Private to "mettes": -. Private to "mottes": o.
"mettes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mottes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mettes" and "mottes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mettes" vs "mottes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mettes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mottes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mettes" and "mottes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mottes vs muettes". 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 #17,427 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.