müden vs müssen, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“müden” is an adjective and “müssen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,858
“müden” frequency rank: #154
“müssen” frequency rank: 28012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	müden	müssen
Definition	Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs müde	unausweichlich gezwungen sein, etwas zu tun oder zu erleiden

Where the eye mixes müden and müssen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch

müden

6 ch

müssen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: müden is [ˈmyːdn̩] while müssen is [ˈmʏsn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

müden is recorded at frequency rank #27,858, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmyːdn̩]. müssen is at rank #154, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmʏsn̩].

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 28012, this pair ranks #1,792,094 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of müden vs müssen

Shared letters: emnü. Private to "müden": d. Private to "müssen": s.

"müden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "müssen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "müden" and "müssen" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "müden" is an adjective and "müssen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "müden" or "müssen"?

"müssen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #154 in our German list, against #27,858 for "müden". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "müden" and "müssen". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "müden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "müssen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,792,094 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"müden" and "müssen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Madsen vs müden". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.