mesvsMutesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mes is a unknown, Mutes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mes” is an unknown and “Mutes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,176
“mes” frequency rank
#46,166
“Mutes” frequency rank
77342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mes Mutes
Definition Plural Maskulinum des Pronomens mon Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Mut

Where the eye mixes mes and Mutes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mes runs 3 letters (CVC) against Mutes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
mes
5 ch
Mutes

Visual trap between mes and Mutes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mes is [me] while Mutes is [ˈmuːtəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77342, 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]. Mutes is at rank #46,166, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmuːtəs].

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 77342, this pair ranks #262,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mes vs Mutes

Shared letters: ems. Private to "mes": -. Private to "Mutes": tu.

"mes" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Mutes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mutes ← mmutes · mtues · muets · mutess · mutse · muttes · umtes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mes" and "Mutes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mes" is an unknown and "Mutes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mes" vs "Mutes" - which ranks higher?
"mes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,176 in our German list, against #46,166 for "Mutes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "Mutes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,954 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mes" and "Mutes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "museo vs Mutes". 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 #262,954 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