MetervsMuteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#753
“Meter” frequency rank
#40,098
“Mute” frequency rank
40851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Meter Mute
Definition SI-Basiseinheit für die Länge; eine Strecke, die das Licht im Vakuum in 1/299.792.458 Sekunden zurücklegt Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Mut

Where the eye mixes Meter and Mute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Meter
4 ch
Mute

Look-alike desk: Meter vs Mute

A purely visual mix-up. Meter ([ˈmeːtɐ]) and Mute ([ˈmuːtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Meter is recorded at frequency rank #753, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeːtɐ]. Mute is at rank #40,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmuːtə].

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 40851, this pair ranks #1,496,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Meter vs Mute

Shared letters: emt. Private to "Meter": r. Private to "Mute": u.

"Meter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Mute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Meteremter · meetr · meterr · metre · metter · mmeter · mteer
  • Mutemmute · mtue · muet · umte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Meter" and "Mute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmeːtɐ] versus [ˈmuːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Meter" or "Mute"?
"Meter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #753 in our German list, against #40,098 for "Mute". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Meter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,496,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Meter" and "Mute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Matze vs Mute". 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 #1,496,471 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