moodvsmoteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,401
“mood” frequency rank
#18,928
“mote” frequency rank
44329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mood mote
Definition humor partícula de pó

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mood and mote apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
mood
4 ch
mote

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mood (/mud/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mood is recorded at frequency rank #25,401, classified as anoun, pronounced /mud/. 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 44329, this pair ranks #21,168 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mood vs mote

Shared letters: mo. Private to "mood": d. Private to "mote": et.

"mood" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "mote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moodmmood · mod · moodd · omod
  • motemmote · moet · motte · mtoe · omte

Frequency comparison

mood#25,401
mote#18,928

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mood" and "mote" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mud/ versus /moʊt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mood" or "mote"?
"mote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,928 in our Portuguese list, against #25,401 for "mood". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mood vs mote

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mood” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list