Which to use
“musst” and “mussten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #755
- “musst” frequency rank
- #1,138
- “mussten” frequency rank
- 1893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | musst | mussten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ des Verbs müssen | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs müssen |
Where the eye mixes musst and mussten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. musst runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against mussten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses musst with mussten
A purely visual mix-up. musst ([mʊst]) and mussten ([ˈmʊstn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “musst” sits inside “mussten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
musst is recorded at frequency rank #755, classified as averb, pronounced [mʊst]. mussten is at rank #1,138, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmʊstn̩].
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 1893, this pair ranks #2,003,519 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of musst vs mussten
Shared letters: mstu. Private to "musst": -. Private to "mussten": en.
"musst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "mussten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "musst" and "mussten" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "musst" or "mussten" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "musst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mussten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,003,519 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "musst" and "mussten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "museo vs musst". 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 #2,003,519 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.