megvsmosTell them apart

Quick tell: meg is a adverb, mos is a particle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“meg” is an adverb and “mos” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,681
“meg” frequency rank
#39,532
“mos” frequency rank
71213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meg mos
Definition Präteritum: kennzeichnet eine Handlung als abgeschlossen verleiht einer Aufforderung, Aussage, Frage oder einem Wunsch eine gewisse Nachdrücklichkeit

Where the eye mixes meg and mos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
meg
3 ch
mos

Visual trap between meg and mos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meg is [mɛɡ] while mos is [mos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meg is recorded at frequency rank #31,681, classified as anadv, pronounced [mɛɡ]. mos is at rank #39,532, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [mos].

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 71213, this pair ranks #423,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of meg vs mos

Shared letters: m. Private to "meg": eg. Private to "mos": os.

"meg" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "meg" for "mos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meg" is an adverb and "mos" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "meg" or "mos"?
"meg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,681 in our German list, against #39,532 for "mos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "meg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,293 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meg" and "mos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #423,293 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