Which to use
“motos” and “mottes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,010
- “motos” frequency rank
- #47,469
- “mottes” frequency rank
- 60479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | motos | mottes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de moto. | Pluriel de motte. |
Where the eye mixes motos and mottes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. motos runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against mottes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses motos with mottes
A purely visual mix-up. motos (\mo.to\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
motos is recorded at frequency rank #13,010, classified as anoun, pronounced \mo.to\. 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 60479, this pair ranks #97,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of motos vs mottes
Shared letters: most. Private to "motos": -. Private to "mottes": e.
"motos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mottes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "motos" and "mottes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "motos" or "mottes"?
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 "motos" 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 #97,363 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "motos" 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 #97,363 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.