mondesvsmottesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,320
“mondes” frequency rank
#47,469
“mottes” frequency rank
53789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mondes mottes
Definition Pluriel de monde. Pluriel de motte.

Where the eye mixes mondes and mottes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mondes and mottes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
mondes
6 ch
mottes

Look-alike desk: mondes vs mottes

A purely visual mix-up. mondes (\mɔ̃d\) 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 53789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mondes is recorded at frequency rank #6,320, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ̃d\. 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 53789, this pair ranks #138,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mondes vs mottes

Shared letters: emos. Private to "mondes": dn. Private to "mottes": t.

"mondes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "mottes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mondes ← mmondes · mnodes · modnes · monddes · mondess · mondse · moneds · monndes
  • mottes ← mmottes · motes · motets · mottess · mottse · mtotes · omttes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mondes" and "mottes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mɔ̃d\ versus \mɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mondes" vs "mottes" - which ranks higher?
"mondes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,320 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mondes" 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 #138,350 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mondes" 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 #138,350 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