mosvsmouseWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#39,532
“mos” frequency rank
#31,186
“mouse” frequency rank
70718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mos mouse
Definition verleiht einer Aufforderung, Aussage, Frage oder einem Wunsch eine gewisse Nachdrücklichkeit Nagetier (Plural 1); Maus

Where the eye mixes mos and mouse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
mos
5 ch
mouse

Why the eye confuses mos with mouse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mos is [mos] while mouse is [maʊs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (particle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mos is recorded at frequency rank #39,532, classified as aparticle, pronounced [mos]. mouse is at rank #31,186, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maʊs].

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 70718, this pair ranks #437,888 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mos vs mouse

Shared letters: mos. Private to "mos": -. Private to "mouse": eu.

"mos" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mouse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mousemmouse · mosue · moues · mousse · muose · omuse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mos" and "mouse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mos" is a particle and "mouse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "mos" or "mouse" show up more?
"mouse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,186 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mouse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #437,888 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mos" and "mouse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mos". 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 #437,888 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