mmevsmosWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mme is a noun, mos is a particle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mme” is a noun and “mos” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,851
“mme” frequency rank
#39,532
“mos” frequency rank
86383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mme mos
Definition Mutter verleiht einer Aufforderung, Aussage, Frage oder einem Wunsch eine gewisse Nachdrücklichkeit

Where the eye mixes mme and mos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. mme (CCV) and mos (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
mme
3 ch
mos

Look-alike desk: mme vs mos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mme is [m̩mɛ] while mos is [mos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mme is recorded at frequency rank #46,851, classified as anoun, pronounced [m̩mɛ]. mos is at rank #39,532, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [mos].

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 86383, this pair ranks #94,511 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mme vs mos

Shared letters: m. Private to "mme": e. Private to "mos": os.

"mme" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "mos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mme" and "mos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mme" is a noun and "mos" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mme" or "mos"?
"mos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,532 in our German list, against #46,851 for "mme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #94,511 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mme" and "mos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Memel vs mme". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #94,511 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