mortvsmurWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mort is a noun, mur is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mort” is a noun and “mur” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,299
“mort” frequency rank
#26,534
“mur” frequency rank
64833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mort mur
Definition der Tod 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs muren

Where the eye mixes mort and mur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mort
3 ch
mur

Why the eye confuses mort with mur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mort is [mɔʁ] while mur is [muːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mort is recorded at frequency rank #38,299, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɔʁ]. mur is at rank #26,534, tagged as averb, pronounced [muːɐ̯].

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 64833, this pair ranks #627,681 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mort vs mur

Shared letters: mr. Private to "mort": ot. Private to "mur": u.

"mort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mortmmort · morrt · mortt · motr · mrot · omrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mort" for "mur" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mort" is a noun and "mur" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mort" vs "mur" - which ranks higher?
"mur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,534 in our German list, against #38,299 for "mort". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #627,681 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mort" and "mur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mort". 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 #627,681 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