MühevsMutWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,352
“Mühe” frequency rank
#2,405
“Mut” frequency rank
4757
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mühe Mut
Definition körperliche oder geistige Anstrengung Geisteshaltung, bei der Handlungen in einer gefährlichen, kritischen oder waghalsigen Situation energisch und furchtlos ausgeführt werden

Where the eye mixes Mühe and Mut

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

4 ch
Mühe
3 ch
Mut

Look-alike desk: Mühe vs Mut

A purely visual mix-up. Mühe ([ˈmyːə]) and Mut ([muːt]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4757, 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]. Mut is at rank #2,405, tagged as anoun, pronounced [muːt].

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 4757, this pair ranks #1,996,765 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mühe vs Mut

Shared letters: m. Private to "Mühe": ehü. Private to "Mut": tu.

"Mühe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Mut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mühe" for "Mut" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmyːə] versus [muːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Mühe" vs "Mut" - which ranks higher?
"Mühe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,352 in our German list, against #2,405 for "Mut". 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 "Mut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,765 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mühe" and "Mut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Möhre vs Mühe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,996,765 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