motionsvsmotivésConfusable pair

Quick tell: motions is a noun, motivés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“motions” is a noun and “motivés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,452
“motions” frequency rank
#13,842
“motivés” frequency rank
43294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature motions motivés
Definition Pluriel de motion. Masculin pluriel de motivé.

Where the eye mixes motions and motivés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. motions (CVCVVCC) and motivés (CVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
motions
7 ch
motivés

Visual trap between motions and motivés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: motions is \mɔ.sjɔ̃\ while motivés is \mɔ.ti.ve\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

motions is recorded at frequency rank #29,452, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.sjɔ̃\. motivés is at rank #13,842, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.ti.ve\.

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 43294, this pair ranks #219,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of motions vs motivés

Shared letters: imost. Private to "motions": n. Private to "motivés": vé.

"motions" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "motivés" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • motions ← mmotions · moitons · motinos · motionns · motionss · motiosn · motoins · mottions

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "motions" and "motivés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "motions" is a noun and "motivés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "motions" or "motivés" show up more?
"motivés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,842 in our French list, against #29,452 for "motions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "motions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "motivés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #219,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "motions" and "motivés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "montons vs motions". 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 #219,189 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