mosvsmuhTell them apart

Quick tell: mos is a particle, muh is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,532
“mos” frequency rank
#32,176
“muh” frequency rank
71708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mos muh
Definition verleiht einer Aufforderung, Aussage, Frage oder einem Wunsch eine gewisse Nachdrücklichkeit muh ist der besondere Tierlaut der Kuh

Where the eye mixes mos and muh

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mos
3 ch
muh

Why the eye confuses mos with muh

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mos is [mos] while muh is [muː]. 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 (particle vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71708, 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]. muh is at rank #32,176, tagged as anintj, pronounced [muː].

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 71708, this pair ranks #409,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mos vs muh

Shared letters: m. Private to "mos": os. Private to "muh": hu.

"mos" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "muh" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mos" and "muh" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mos" is a particle and "muh" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mos" or "muh"?
"muh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,176 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.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "muh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #409,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mos" and "muh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #409,106 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