misvsMopsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,676
“mis” frequency rank
#40,713
“Mops” frequency rank
78389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mis Mops
Definition rotes, leicht formbares Metall, das sich gut als Stromleiter eignet; Kupfer Hunderasse mit kurzen Beinen und gedrungenem Körper

Where the eye mixes mis and Mops

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mis runs 3 letters (CVC) against Mops's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
mis
4 ch
Mops

Look-alike desk: mis vs Mops

A purely visual mix-up. mis ([mis]) and Mops ([mɔps]) 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 78389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mis is recorded at frequency rank #37,676, classified as anoun, pronounced [mis]. Mops is at rank #40,713, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mɔps].

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 78389, this pair ranks #239,393 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mis vs Mops

Shared letters: ms. Private to "mis": i. Private to "Mops": op.

"mis" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Mops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Mops ← mmops · mopps · mopss · mosp · mpos · omps

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mis" for "Mops" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([mis] versus [mɔps]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "mis" or "Mops" show up more?
"mis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,676 in our German list, against #40,713 for "Mops". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mis" and "Mops" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #239,393 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mis" and "Mops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mops vs mora". 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 #239,393 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