moitavsmoteConfusable pair

Which to use

“moita” and “mote” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,053
“moita” frequency rank
#18,928
“mote” frequency rank
41981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moita mote
Definition arbusto espesso partícula de pó

Where the eye mixes moita and mote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. moita runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against mote's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
moita
4 ch
mote

Look-alike desk: moita vs mote

A purely visual mix-up. moita (/ˈmoj.tɐ/) and mote (/moʊt/) 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 41981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moita is recorded at frequency rank #23,053, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmoj.tɐ/. mote is at rank #18,928, tagged as anoun, pronounced /moʊt/.

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 41981, this pair ranks #23,862 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of moita vs mote

Shared letters: mot. Private to "moita": ai. Private to "mote": e.

"moita" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "mote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moita ← miota · mmoita · moiat · moitta · motia · omita
  • mote ← mmote · moet · motte · mtoe · omte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "moita" and "mote" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmoj.tɐ/ versus /moʊt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "moita" or "mote" show up more?
"mote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,928 in our Portuguese list, against #23,053 for "moita". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "moita" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,862 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moita" and "mote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moita vs morsa". 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 #23,862 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list