Which to use
“mote” and “motel” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,928
- “mote” frequency rank
- #9,372
- “motel” frequency rank
- 28300
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mote | motel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | partícula de pó | estabelecimento de hospedagem em que as pessoas geralmente vão com o objetivo de manter relações sexuais e não necessariamente para conseguir alojamento |
Where the eye mixes mote and motel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mote runs 4 letters (CVCV) against motel's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: mote vs motel
A purely visual mix-up. mote (/moʊt/) and motel (/mɔ.ˈtɛɫ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “mote” sits inside “motel”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mote is recorded at frequency rank #18,928, classified as anoun, pronounced /moʊt/. motel is at rank #9,372, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɔ.ˈtɛɫ/.
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 28300, this pair ranks #40,517 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mote vs motel
Shared letters: emot. Private to "mote": -. Private to "motel": l.
"mote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "motel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mote" for "motel" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mote" vs "motel" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mote" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "motel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,517 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mote" and "motel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mote vs muto". 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 #40,517 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.