momiesvsmottesTell them apart

Which to use

“momies” and “mottes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,924
“momies” frequency rank
#47,469
“mottes” frequency rank
86393
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature momies mottes
Definition Pluriel de momie. Pluriel de motte.

Where the eye mixes momies and mottes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. momies (CVCVVC) and mottes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
momies
6 ch
mottes

Look-alike desk: momies vs mottes

A purely visual mix-up. momies (\mɔ.mi\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

momies is recorded at frequency rank #38,924, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.mi\. 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 86393, this pair ranks #9,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of momies vs mottes

Shared letters: emos. Private to "momies": i. Private to "mottes": t.

"momies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "mottes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • momies ← mmoies · mmomies · moimes · momeis · momiess · momise · mommies · ommies
  • mottes ← mmottes · motes · motets · mottess · mottse · mtotes · omttes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "momies" for "mottes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\mɔ.mi\ versus \mɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "momies" vs "mottes" - which ranks higher?
"momies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,924 in our French list, against #47,469 for "mottes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "momies" and "mottes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "momies" 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 #9,768 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "momies" 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 #9,768 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list