MistervsMutterTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,129
“Mister” frequency rank
#470
“Mutter” frequency rank
14599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mister Mutter
Definition in englischsprachigen Ländern höfliche Anrede vor dem Namen weiblicher Elternteil, der seine Kinder aufzieht und versorgt; Frau, welche ein oder mehrere Kinder geboren hat

Where the eye mixes Mister and Mutter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Mister
6 ch
Mutter

Look-alike desk: Mister vs Mutter

A purely visual mix-up. Mister ([ˈmɪstɐ]) and Mutter ([ˈmʊtɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mister is recorded at frequency rank #14,129, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɪstɐ]. Mutter is at rank #470, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmʊtɐ].

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 14599, this pair ranks #1,950,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mister vs Mutter

Shared letters: emrt. Private to "Mister": is. Private to "Mutter": u.

"Mister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Mutter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Misterimster · misetr · misster · misterr · mistre · mistter · mitser · mmister
  • Muttermmutter · mtuter · muter · mutetr · mutterr · muttre · umtter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Mister" and "Mutter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmɪstɐ] versus [ˈmʊtɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mister" or "Mutter"?
"Mutter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #470 in our German list, against #14,129 for "Mister". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mister" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mutter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,950,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mister" and "Mutter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mietet vs Mister". 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 #1,950,073 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