MoskauvsMoskausWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Moskau is a name, Moskaus is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Moskau” is a name and “Moskaus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,458
“Moskau” frequency rank
#34,819
“Moskaus” frequency rank
37277
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Moskau Moskaus
Definition Stadt, Hauptstadt der Russischen Föderation (Russland), zugleich eine Oblast Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Moskau

Where the eye mixes Moskau and Moskaus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Moskau runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against Moskaus's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Moskau
7 ch
Moskaus

Why the eye confuses Moskau with Moskaus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Moskau is [ˈmɔskaʊ̯] while Moskaus is [ˈmɔskaʊ̯s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Moskau” sits inside “Moskaus”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Moskau is recorded at frequency rank #2,458, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈmɔskaʊ̯]. Moskaus is at rank #34,819, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɔskaʊ̯s].

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 37277, this pair ranks #1,594,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Moskau vs Moskaus

Shared letters: akmosu. Private to "Moskau": -. Private to "Moskaus": -.

"Moskau" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "Moskaus" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Moskau ← mmoskau · moksau · mosaku · moskkau · moskua · mosskau · msokau · omskau
  • Moskaus ← mmoskaus · moksaus · mosakus · moskasu · moskauss · moskkaus · moskuas · mosskaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Moskau" for "Moskaus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Moskau" is a name and "Moskaus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Moskau" or "Moskaus" show up more?
"Moskau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,458 in our German list, against #34,819 for "Moskaus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Moskau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Moskaus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,594,322 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Moskau" and "Moskaus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mokka vs Moskau". 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 #1,594,322 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