MausvsMSWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Maus is a noun, MS is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Maus” is a noun and “MS” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,634
“Maus” frequency rank
#4,220
“MS” frequency rank
8854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maus MS
Definition kleines graues oder braunes Säugetier mit überwiegend langem Schwanz, rattenähnlich, in der Zuchtform auch weiß oder schwarz Abkürzung für Motorschiff

Letter map: Maus vs MS

Shared letters muted; letters that set Maus and MS apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Maus
2 ch
MS

Role in the sentence - Maus and MS

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Maus is anoun and MSanabbrev. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maus is recorded at frequency rank #4,634, classified as anoun, pronounced [maʊ̯s]. MS is at rank #4,220, tagged as anabbrev.

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 8854, this pair ranks #1,982,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Maus vs MS

Shared letters: ms. Private to "Maus": au. Private to "MS": -.

"Maus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "MS" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mausamus · masu · mauss · mmaus · muas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Maus" for "MS" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Maus" is a noun and "MS" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Maus" or "MS"?
"MS" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,220 in our German list, against #4,634 for "Maus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "Maus" vs "MS" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "MS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,982,517 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maus" and "MS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maus vs Mauser". 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 #1,982,517 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list