Which to use
“musst” and “must” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #755
- “musst” frequency rank
- #11,712
- “must” frequency rank
- 12467
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | musst | must |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ des Verbs müssen | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs musen |
Where the eye mixes musst and must
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. musst runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against must's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between musst and must
A purely visual mix-up. musst ([mʊst]) and must ([muːst]) 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 12467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
musst is recorded at frequency rank #755, classified as averb, pronounced [mʊst]. must is at rank #11,712, tagged as averb, pronounced [muːst].
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 12467, this pair ranks #1,964,020 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of musst vs must
Shared letters: mstu. Private to "musst": -. Private to "must": -.
"musst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "must" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "musst" for "must" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "musst" or "must" show up more?
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 "musst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "must" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,964,020 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "musst" and "must" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "münz vs must". 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 #1,964,020 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.