MobvsmosWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#13,441
“Mob” frequency rank
#39,532
“mos” frequency rank
52973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mob mos
Definition aufgewiegelte, aufrührerische Volksmenge verleiht einer Aufforderung, Aussage, Frage oder einem Wunsch eine gewisse Nachdrücklichkeit

Where the eye mixes Mob and mos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Mob and mos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
Mob
3 ch
mos

Visual trap between Mob and mos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mob is [mɔp] while mos is [mos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “Mob” becomes s in “mos”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mob is recorded at frequency rank #13,441, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɔp]. 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 52973, this pair ranks #1,076,003 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mob vs mos

Shared letters: mo. Private to "Mob": b. Private to "mos": s.

"Mob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mob" for "mos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mob" is a noun and "mos" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Mob" or "mos"?
"Mob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,441 in our German list, against #39,532 for "mos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Mob" 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 #1,076,003 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mob" and "mos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,076,003 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