mag vs mu, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mag” and “mu” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#411
“mag” frequency rank: #18,336
“mu” frequency rank: 18747
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mag	mu
Definition	1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv von mögen	Genitiv Singular des Personalpronomens mina

Letter map: mag vs mu

Shared letters muted; letters that set mag and mu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

mag

2 ch

Corpus notes: mag and mu

mag and mu are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mag is recorded at frequency rank #411, classified as anunknown, pronounced [maːk]. mu is at rank #18,336, tagged as anunknown, pronounced […].

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 18747, this pair ranks #1,915,292 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mag vs mu

Shared letters: m. Private to "mag": ag. Private to "mu": u.

"mag" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "mu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mag" for "mu" ever safe?

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Frequency check: "mag" vs "mu" - which ranks higher?

"mag" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #411 in our German list, against #18,336 for "mu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've compared "mag" and "mu". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "mag" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "mu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,915,292 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"mag" and "mu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mu vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,915,292 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.