MühevsMühenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Mühe” and “Mühen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,352
“Mühe” frequency rank
#17,995
“Mühen” frequency rank
20347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mühe Mühen
Definition körperliche oder geistige Anstrengung Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Mühe

Where the eye mixes Mühe and Mühen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Mühe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Mühen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Mühe
5 ch
Mühen

Visual trap between Mühe and Mühen

A purely visual mix-up. Mühe ([ˈmyːə]) and Mühen ([ˈmyːən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Mühe” sits inside “Mühen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mühe is recorded at frequency rank #2,352, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmyːə]. Mühen is at rank #17,995, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmyːən].

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 20347, this pair ranks #1,898,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mühe vs Mühen

Shared letters: ehmü. Private to "Mühe": -. Private to "Mühen": n.

"Mühe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Mühen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mühe" and "Mühen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmyːə] versus [ˈmyːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mühe" vs "Mühen" - which ranks higher?
"Mühe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,352 in our German list, against #17,995 for "Mühen". 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 "Mühe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mühen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,898,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mühe" and "Mühen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Moden vs Mühen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,898,682 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