mosvsmurWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#39,532
“mos” frequency rank
#26,534
“mur” frequency rank
66066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mos mur
Definition verleiht einer Aufforderung, Aussage, Frage oder einem Wunsch eine gewisse Nachdrücklichkeit 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs muren

Where the eye mixes mos and mur

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

3 ch
mos
3 ch
mur

Visual trap between mos and mur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mos is [mos] while mur is [muːɐ̯]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66066, 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]. 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 66066, this pair ranks #585,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mos vs mur

Shared letters: m. Private to "mos": os. Private to "mur": ru.

"mos" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mos" and "mur" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mos" is a particle and "mur" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "mos" or "mur" show up more?
"mur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,534 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 "mos" 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 #585,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mos" and "mur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mora vs mos". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #585,721 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