Which to use
“motive” and “mutilé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,841
- “motive” frequency rank
- #30,272
- “mutilé” frequency rank
- 44113
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | motive | mutilé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de motiver. | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe mutiler. |
Where the eye mixes motive and mutilé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. motive and mutilé follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between motive and mutilé
A purely visual mix-up. motive (\mɔ.tiv\) and mutilé (\my.ti.le\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
motive is recorded at frequency rank #13,841, classified as averb, pronounced \mɔ.tiv\. mutilé is at rank #30,272, tagged as averb, pronounced \my.ti.le\.
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 44113, this pair ranks #212,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of motive vs mutilé
Shared letters: imt. Private to "motive": eov. Private to "mutilé": lué.
"motive" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "mutilé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- motive ← mmotive · moitve · motiev · motivve · mottive · motvie · mtoive · omtive
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "motive" and "mutilé" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "motive" vs "mutilé" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "motive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mutilé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "motive" and "mutilé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mutilé vs mutins". 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 #212,978 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.