Which to use
“mes” is an unknown and “must” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,176
- “mes” frequency rank
- #11,712
- “must” frequency rank
- 42888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mes | must |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural Maskulinum des Pronomens mon | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs musen |
Where the eye mixes mes and must
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mes with must
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mes is [me] while must is [muːst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mes is recorded at frequency rank #31,176, classified as anunknown, pronounced [me]. must is at rank #11,712, tagged as averb, pronounced [muːst].
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 42888, this pair ranks #1,435,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mes vs must
Shared letters: ms. Private to "mes": e. Private to "must": tu.
"mes" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "must" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- must ← mmust · msut · mustt · muts · umst
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mes" and "must" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "mes" or "must" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "must" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,435,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mes" and "must" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mals vs mes". 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 #1,435,315 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.