Which to use
“musste” and “must” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #368
- “musste” frequency rank
- #11,712
- “must” frequency rank
- 12080
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | musste | must |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs müssen | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs musen |
Where the eye mixes musste and must
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. musste runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against must's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between musste and must
A purely visual mix-up. musste ([ˈmʊstə]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
musste is recorded at frequency rank #368, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈmʊstə]. 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 12080, this pair ranks #1,966,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of musste vs must
Shared letters: mstu. Private to "musste": e. Private to "must": -.
"musste" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "must" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "musste" and "must" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "musste" or "must"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "musste" 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 #1,966,288 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "musste" 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 #1,966,288 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.