Which to use
“motivation” and “mutilation” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,512
- “motivation” frequency rank
- #27,139
- “mutilation” frequency rank
- 31651
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | motivation | mutilation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Désir ou volonté spontanés. | Action de mutiler. |
Where the eye mixes motivation and mutilation
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: motivation vs mutilation
A purely visual mix-up. motivation (\mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\) and mutilation (\my.ti.la.sjɔ̃\) 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 31651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
motivation is recorded at frequency rank #4,512, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\. mutilation is at rank #27,139, tagged as anoun, pronounced \my.ti.la.sjɔ̃\.
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 31651, this pair ranks #302,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of motivation vs mutilation
Shared letters: aimnot. Private to "motivation": v. Private to "mutilation": lu.
"motivation" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC · "mutilation" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- motivation ← mmotivation · moitvation · motiavtion · motivaiton · motivatino · motivationn · motivatoin · motivattion
- mutilation ← mmutilation · mtuilation · muitlation · mutialtion · mutilaiton · mutilatino · mutilationn · mutilatoin
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "motivation" and "mutilation" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "motivation" or "mutilation" show up more?
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 "motivation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mutilation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #302,465 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "motivation" and "mutilation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mutilation vs mutilations". 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 #302,465 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.